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HANDBOUND 
AT  THE 


THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA. 


THE   GRECIAN  DRAMA: 


TREATISE 


ON 


THE   DRAMATIC    LITERATURE 


or 


THE  GREEKS. 


BY  THE 

VV 
BEY.  J.  K.  DABLEY,  M.A. 

FRIXCIPAL  OF  THE  ROYAL   SCHOOL  OF  DUNGANXON. 


DUBLIN: 
HARDY  &   WALKER,   LOWER   SACKVILLE-STREETj 

LONDON"  :    RICHARD  GROOMBRIDGE,  PATERNOSTER -ROW. 
1840. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


THE  following  Treatise  will  be  found  to  contain  &  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  Twining'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  Person'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  an  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. 


DONGANNON  COLLEGE, 
May  16,  1840. 


. :    - 


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CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

EXTRACTS  FROM   BENTLEY's   DISSERTATION    OS    PHALARtS. 

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. — ^5a<r)ca.\uu — Original  prizes  for  tragedy  and  comedy 
— Arundelian  marbles — Sannyrio — Tea  testimonies  in  favor  of 
Thespis  being  the  inventor  •—  Epigenes — Five  objections 

against  Berkley's  opinion  that  Thcspls  published  nothing  in  \vriting_ 
— 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  Plialaris — 
Plutarch  incorrectly  asserted  that  Thespis  acted  plays  in  Solotijs 
time— Tragedy  not  older  than  Thespis — Contrary  opinion  illogi- 
c.illy  deduced  from  passages  in  Aristotle,  Laertius,  Plato,  Hero- 
dotus, anil  Plutarch — Bentley,  from  the  derivation  of  the  word, 
concludes  that  the  name  of  tragedy  was  not  older  than  Thcspte— '- 
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 — Thesatyrical  plays  of  the  Greeks 
different  from  the  satire  of  the  Romans — 'E|  a^f ns  \<=re«»,  troprcveir, 
•,f$i>p'C«» — Nature  of  the  Dithyramb — Especially  cultivated  in  the 
Doric  cities — Lasus,  Arion,  Simonides,  Archilochus — Tragic  cho- 
ruses  in  Sicyon — \cptg  K«M<««C,  TP<»-. «°f>  KW.VIOC — Prize  of  the  dithy. 
ramb,  derivation  of  name — Ku>iwa«'a,  T^^/a,  Tp^a^i'a 

b 


Ylll  CONTENTS. 

Tpaiytia  not  used  metaphorically  for  sumptuousnegs  until  after  the 
time  of  Demosthenes — Expenses  of,  the  tragic  chorus,  xop&s  fi^pw. 
trvfipwarai,  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  Satyrie 
chorus — Distinct  prizes  assigned — The  Satyrie  chorus  particularly 
cultivated  at  Phlius — The  addition  of  this  chorus  formed  the  se- 
cond stage  of  the  Drama — The  Satyrie  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  Satyrie  Drama—  Orchome- 
nian  inscriptions — Lyric  tragedy — JEschylus,  author  of  the  fifth 
stage  of  the  Drama — History  of  the  life  of  ^Eschylus,  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  ^Eschylus,  So- 
phocles, and  Euripides — Comedians  and  philosophers  contempora- 
neous with  ^Eschylus — 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  JEschylus  and  of  Sophocles — 


CONTEXT- .  IX. 

History  of  the  life,  writing?,  philosophical  sentiments,  &c.  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  JEschylus  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 — 
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 • 

CHAPTER  III. 

DRAMATIC    CONTESTS CHORUS THEATRE.    \'C. 

Dramatic  Contests. — History  of  their  origin,  progress,  and  duration— 

«ltoi  i'(na  TC<  (Car*  u*>poi  £ — T«  A  rjiata — Ta  KaT1  aaru— -*AaKt*X<a — Beoiwa— TliOoifta — 
X6«£ — Xi'Tpoi — Ta  tv  IIeipa<e» — cfywvoSeTflj;— «n^ieXnT>;£ — X°P1-)<>£ — uvri\opfnoi — 
uim<5<dd<rieaXo! — UITI'TCXVOI—  xopor  XajSeiV— y.apov  Aiiaanttr — xopo*  ai-tii — \opoii 
Aowat — Sioacrneiv  dpa.ua — T€TpaXo~ia — rpiXoyia First  and  last  recorded  te- 

tralogies — Passage  from  Diogenes  Laertius  interpreted  by  Twining 


X  CONTENTS. 

— Choragio  expenses — Prizes — Judges — Number  of  dramas  pro- 
duced at  one  representation — Number  of  choragi— Reason  why  tri- 
logies, or  three  connected  plays,  were  performed — Orestia  of  JEs- 
chylus — Difference  between  the  ancient  and  modern  theatrical  ex- 
hibitions. 

Actors. — Chorus.  Legitimate  number  of  actors — Their  names — Ex- 
ception to  the  law  of  three  actors — Date  of  this  exception — Mean- 
ing of  the  term  toneva — Estimation  in  which  actors  were  held — 
Paid  by  the  state — No  female  actors — No  foundation  for  the  opinion 
that  the  Greek  tragedy  was  divided  into  Acts — Aristotle's  division  of 
tragedy  with  respect  to  quantity — Proloyue— Called  by  Aristotle 
Sft^ita  \t>tov — Sophocles  excelled  in  the  prologue — Episode — Corres- 
ponds to  our  act — Surest  test  of  the  poet's  abilities — Exode — 'E?od.o< 
n5yuo< — Chorus — Eight  arguments  in  favour  of — Number  of  xopwai — 

M  tiller's    hypothesis — Kara    ty^a,    Kara    a^oixov^— \\itpooof,  nftavdo-raiTiS, 

tTrnrdpoioc,  a^odog — Duties  of  the  chorus  according  to  Aristotle  and 

Horace — Kopu^aioj;,  iflenwv,  /ueffoxopof—  i>'X°P'u>  TP'XoP'a»  nH'X<Jpia>  urrt%6pia 
— iiTOK-jAjna,  7pa|Ujucu' — x°P0^tKT|l£ — %opooi&dana\o(_ — Strophe,  antistrOphe, 

cpode — 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 — 'APXITC/CTUH',  fadTpiii/tic,  o-i;/j/3oXov—  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&dfiara,  KtpKidef,  /3ui'XcuTKioi>,  t<pn/3'Mv,  wpoedp/ai— PorticOS— "OpxiffTpa, 
6<>fie\ij,  dpo/iof,  wapoooi,  6icro5oi,  annul],  \o*/etov,  irpocKiji'tov,  /3a<n/Uu>£,  jrapu. 
crKtjua,  Kara/3?V»j/jaTa,  jrcpi'aKTOi,  0£o\o"jeiov,  ai'ajpa/,  uuxavi/,  ftpnvof,  fipovTiToi', 
nepavvoaKoireiov,  CKOJTI';,  Terxoj,  Trt'pyof,  ^pvKiiapiov,  ^uiKMcXtay,  <r-rpo<j>fTot>,  r,/u- 
arpo<p^'ioii,fKKi'K\ntJia,xapu.vtoiK\iiJiaKe(:1una'!tiC(Tijia,av\aia,l)Kpiftar:,eviaK!!i'ia,iio- 

vvaiaKoi  Tcx^Tai — Three  kinds  of  scenes — Scena  versilis,  ductilis — 
Echoea— Cases  in  which  the  eccyclema  was  used — BoTpaxerov,  7rpo<r<, . 

TTC'OV,  fiopfj.o\iKeioi',  •/OfyiveiOlt,  f/n^oTOg,  KoArcd/ia,  ^t-ciav  no&nptjCt  ci'pfia,  XVOTIC, 
tfiantov,  tfw^ir,  &i(j>0tpn,  vtnXov,  oyicof,  naaxa\icnnptg,  <f,ei>ann,  Kpuy3i''Xo£ — 

Arguments  for  and  against  the  use  of  the  mask — Cothurnus,  chiop- 
pine  of  Shakspeare — Metaphorical  use  of  the  words  xnpnttu  and 
xopqf'o  in  the  Scriptures,  and  of  the  word  x°p<''C  in  the  Greek  eccle- 
siastical  writers. 

Chronology  of  the  Greek  Drama 85 


CONTENT?.  XI 


CHAPTER  IV. 


MISCELLANEOUS    OBSERVATIONS. 

Peculiar  excellence  of  each  of  the  tragedies  of  Sophocles — Compa- 
rison of  the  Eumenides  and  the  CEdSpus  at  Colonos — Schools  of 
dramatic  art — The  essence  of  tragedy  abolished  by  Euripides — 
Euripides  adopted  the  innovations  of  Timotheus — Character  of  his 
writings,  and  relative  merits  of  his  plays — Choephoroi  of  .^Eschylu?, 
Electra  of  Sophocles,  and  Electra  of  Euripides — Agathon  made  a 
transition  to  the  newer  comedy — Tragedies  of  the  Alexandrine 
literati — Comparison  of  the  old  comedy  and  tragedy — Occasion  of 
the  use  of  the  parabasis  in  comedy — Relative  merits  of  the  plays  of 
Aristophanes — Different  opinions  as  to  the  peculiarity  of  the  middle 
comedy — Relation  between  the  new  comedy  and  tragedy — Versi- 
fication not  essential  to  comedy — Subordinate  species  of  the  new 
comedy — Plays  of  character  and  plays  of  intrigue — Comic  of  ob- 
servation, the  confessedly  comic,  and  the  comic  of  caprice — Mora- 
lity of  tragedy  different  from  that  of  comedy — Remains  of  the  new 
comedy  in  Greek  and  in  Latin — The  Epicurean  philosophy  suited 
to  comedy,  the  Stoic  to  tragedy — Restriction  of  the  female  charac- 
ters of  the  drama — Origin  and  progress  of  the  Roman  drama — 
Difference  between  the  Greek  and  Roman  mimes— Roman  panto- 
mimes—Two epochs  in  the  tragic  literature  of  the  Romans— Tra- 
gedies of  Seneca — Inconvenience  arising  from  the  presence  of  the 
chorus  in  tragedy — The  Grecian  drama  never  lost  its  original  de- 
votional character — Resemblance  between  Aristophanes  and  Rabe- 
lais— Roman  theatres  of  small  extent — Actors  held  in  honor  by  the 
Greeks,  in  contempt  by  the  Romans— Original  metre  of  the  Greek 
tragedy — Essence  of  the  Greek  tragedy — The  drama,  all  poetry,  and 
all  the  fine  arts,  the  results  of  idol  worship— The  two  distinct  parts 
of  Attic  tragedy,  originated  in  different  countries — Apollo,  the 
God  of  the  Dorians — Identity  between  the  chorus  and  the  army  of 
the  Dorians— The  introduction  of  choral  poetry  into  Greece  due  to 
the  Dorian  states— Dancing  either  gymnastic  or  mimetic — Nomes, 
Pa;ans,  Pyrrhic,  Gymnopaedian,  and  Hyporchematic  dances — The 
Hyporcheme  alluded  to  by  Homer — The  choruses  instituted  in 


Xli  ( ONTENTS. 

honor  of  Apollo  transferred  to  Bacchus — Derivations  of  the  word 
6t0ipanf3o£ — Correspondence  and  difference  between  the  lyrical  drama 
and  the  dithyramb — Four  significations  of  the  Exarchus  — A  lyrical 
drama  in  the  Charitesia  at  Orchomenus — Public  recitation  by  the 
Ionian  f>a^oidoi — The  exarchus  of  the  dithyramb  a  rhapsode — The 
dithyramb,  in  its  two-fold  character  of  recitation  and  song,  the 
source  of  the  dialogue  and  chorus  of  tragedy— Recitations  by  rhap- 
sodes at  the  Brauronia — The  worship  of  Bacchus  the  religion  of 
the  oldest  inhabitants  of  Attica — All  concerned  in  the  introduction 
of  the  Drama  into  Athens  in  the  time  of  Thespis  and  Pisistratus 
were  Diacrians,  connected  with  the  worship  of  Bacchus — Thespis 
joined  the  Ionic  element  of  narration  or  dialogue  to  the  Doric  ly- 
rical drama — Reasons  for  the  encouragement  given  by  Pisistratus 
to  the  Rhapsodes — Bentlcy's  arguments  to  prove  that  Thespis  did_ 
not  write  any  play?,  insufficient— The  Satyrical  drama  a  subdivision 

of  tragedy This  appears  from  a  derivation  of  the  word  TpayifAia — 

Derivation  of  xtanyMa — Comedy  established  at  Athens  in  the  time 
of  Pericles — Plato's,  Aristotle's,  Kurd's,  and  Schiller's  definitions  of 

tragedy Historical  dramas — Tragi-comedy — 'i\apoTpayu>&iat  •,  EV.w 

7£<,-  o!  en-i  Taivapia — Comedy  of  caricature,  of  criticism,  and  of  cha- 
racter— Table  of  dramatic  classification — Evidences  of  the  aristocra- 
tical  spirit  of  ^Eschylus — Distinction  between  the  JEsychylean  tra- 
gedy and  the  Homeric  epos — The  Rhesus,  attributed  to  Euripides, 
was  probably  the  first  of  the  plays  of  Sophocles — Character  and 
writings  of  j^Esch^lus,  Sophocles, and  Euripides — Epicharmus,  Cra- 
tinus,  Phrynichus  the  comedian,  Aristophanes,  Menander,  Diphilus 
— The  Dionysian  festivals — Duties  of  the  choragus — Distinction 
between  the  manner  of  representation  of  the  ancient  and  modern 
drama — Epic,  lyric,  and  dramatic  poetry — Essence  of  Tragedy  and 
Comedy— -Study  of  the  antiques — Unities  of  action,  time,  and 
place  .  ; 140 

CHAPTER  V. 

AUISTOTLE'S  TREATISE  ON  POETRY. 

Introduction — Poetry  a  species  of  imitation — Rhythm,  words,  and 
melody,  the  means  of  imitation— The  actions  of  men,  the  objects  of 
imitation — Different  manner  of  imitation,  cither  in  narration,  or  in 


r.M  -. 


xiii 


action — Origin  of  poetry  from  two  causes,  each  of  them  natural — 
Division  of  poetry  into  two  kinds,  the  serious  and  the  ludicrous — 
Of  poets  into  two  classes — Progress  of  tragedy — Object  and  pro- 
gress of  comedy — Comparison  of  epic  and  tragic  poetry — Definition 
of  tragedy— Six  parts  of  tragedy  with  respect  to  quality,  two  relat- 
ing to  the  means,  one  to  the  manner,  and  three  to  the  object  of 
imitation — Placed,  in  respect  of  relative  importance,  thus:  Fable, 
manners,  sentiments,  diction,  music,  decoration — Of  the  fable,  and 
its  construction — The  action  must  be  complete,  and  have  a  cer- 
tain  magnitude — Unity  of  the  fable—  Different  provinces  of  the 
Poet  and  the  Historian— Episodic  fables  the  worst — Fables  simple 
or  complicated— Parts  of  the  fable,  viz.  prologue,  episode,  exode. 
and  chorus — The  chorus  divided  into  parode,  stasimon,  and  com- 
mos — What  catastrophe,  and  what  character  best  for  tragedy — Ca- 
tastrophe should  be  single,  and  that  unhappy — Terror  and  pity  to  be 
excited  by  the  action,  and  not  by  the  decoration — Of  disastrous  in- 
cidents and  their  proper  management — Four  things  requisite  with 
respect  to  the  manners — Five  kinds  of  discoveries — Directions  to 
the  poet,  with  respect  to  the  plan  and  composition  of  his  tragedy 
—Complication  and  development  of  the  plot— Four  kinds  of  trage- 
dies— Too  great  extent  of  plan  to  be  avoided— Of  the  chorus — Of 
the  sentiments  and  diction — The  parts  of  diction,  viz.  the  letter, 
the  syllable,  the  conjunction,  the  noun,  the  verb,  the  article,  the 
case,  the  discourse — Of  words,  single,  double,  triple,  quadruple,  &c. 
Also  of  words,  common,  foreign,  metaphorical,  ornamental,  in- 
vented, extended,  contracted,  altered — Of  the  terminations  of  nouns 
— The  excellence  of  diction  consists  in  being  perspicuous  without 
being  mean— Double  words  best  suited  to  dithyrambic  poetry,  fo- 
reign to  heroic,  metaphorical  to  iambic — Points  of  agreement  and 
difference  between  the  epic  poem  and  tragedy — Epic  narration 
should  be  dramatic  and  imitative — The  epic  admits  the  wonderful 
more  easily,  and  in  a  greater  degree  than  tragedy — Sources  from 
which  critical  objections,  and  the  answers  to  them,  may  be  drawn 
— The  former,  five  in  number,  the  latter,  twelve — Of  the  supe- 
riority of  tragic  to  epic  poetry 205 


XIV  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

GREEK   PROSODY — GREEK   METRES. 

Prosody. — A  short  or  doubtful  vowel  before  two  consonants — A  short 
vowel  sometimes  made  long  before  a  single  consonant — The  first  of 
three  short  syllables  made  long  in  Heroic  verse — A  vowel  not  ne- 
cessarily short  before  another — Apostrophe — Hiatus — Crasis — Syn- 
ecphonesis — Accent — Caesura —  Ictus  —  Punctuation  —  Compound 
words — Of  «,  ;,  y,  in  the  penultimate — Penultima  of  tenses  of  verbs 
— Penultima  of  nouns  and  adjectives  increasing  in  the  genitive — 
Quantity  of  the  last  syllable. 

Metres.  Metre — Rhythm — Verse—  Scanning — Table  of  feet — Iso- 
chronous feet — General  rule  for  ascertaining  the  species  of  verse  in 
which  a  metre  is  synonimous  with  a  syzygy — Difference  between  a 
syzygy  and  a  dipodia — Of  verses,  acatalectic,  catalectic,  &c.  &c. — 
KS>\ov,  Hoppa,  nov6n<a\ov  fio\'6<nppo<po\;  &c. — Penthemimcr,  hepthemimer, 
hcmiholius — Two  kinds  of  cresura — Of  the  former,  three  species, 
of  the  latter,  four — Synapheia — Ictus — Arsis,  thesis — Opinions  of 
Dawcs  and  Dunbar  with  respect  to  the  position  of  the  ictus  in 
iambic,  trochaic,  and  anapaestic  verse — Anacrusis — Nine  principal 
species  of  metre—  Iambic  metre — Four  forms  of  the  senarius — Feet 
admitted  into  the  tragic  senarius — Of  the  anapaest  of  the  first  foot, 
and  of  the  proper  name — Scale  of  the  iambic  trimeter  acatalectic — 
Process  by  which  Porson  infers  the  inadmissibility  of  an  anapaest 
beyond  the  first  foot — Reason  for  the  exclusion  of  anapaests  from 
the  third,  and  of  dactyls  from  the  fifth  foot — Number  of  trisyllabic 
feet  admitted — Species  of  words  excluded  from  a  senarius — Person's 
rule  with  regard  to  the  second  and  third  feet,  and  the  third  and 
fourth  feet — Principal  caesuras  of  the  trimeter,  and  species  of  each — 
Quasi  cassura— Cirsural  pause — Defined  by  Porson,  Elmsley,  and 
Gaisford — Three  apparent  exceptions  to  this  canon — Three  cases 
only  in  which  the  fifth  foot  may  be  a  spondee — Varieties  of  each  case 
— Hermann's  three  exceptions  to  Porson's  csesural  pause — Species 
of  verse  attributed  to  Castorion — Hermann  opposes  Porson's  canons 
with  respect  to  the  second  and  third,  and  third  and  fourth  feet,  and 
with  respect  to  the  non-omission  of  the  augment— Porson's  canon 


CONTEXT?.  XV 

with  respect  to  the  particles  n  and  ye— Extended— Difference  be- 
tween Iambic  and  Trochaic  numbers  according  to  Hermann — 
Other  species  of  Iambic  verse — The  comic  trimeter— Its  true  con- 
stitution first  discovered  by  Dawes — Correspondency  between  the 
tragic  trimeter  and  the  trochaic  tetrameter  catalectic— Iambic  te- 
trameter catalectic — Two  reasons  assigned  by  Elmsley  for  the  small 

number  Of  varieties    Of  this   verse — Evpmieiov  -reff<rapeaKaiSefaav\\aftov 

Dimeter    iambics — Hipponactean    trimeter— Iambic  tetrameter 

acatalectic — Satiric  trimeter — Examples — Trochaic  metre — Scale  of 
the  trochaic  tetrameter  catalectic — Rule  with  regard  to  the  dactyl 
of  the  proper  name — A  spondee  or  anapaest  in  the  sixth  place 
cannot  be  followed  by  a  tribrach  in  the  seventh — Two  peculiarities 
of  the  trochaic  senarian — Nicety  of  structure  discovered  by  Person 
—Rule  with  regard  to  the  sixth  foot  similar  to  that  regarding  the 
cjesural  pause— Five  cases  in  which  the  sixth  foot  may  be  a  spondee 

The  law  concerning  the  caesural  pause  in  the  iambic  trimeter  to 

be  ascribed  to  this  origin — Limitation  of  Person's  canon  with  re- 
spect to  the  second  foot — Resolutions  of  long  syllables  more  fre- 
quent in  the  first  foot  of  each  dipodia—  The  comic  tetrameter  tro- 
chaic— Other  varieties  of  trochaic  verse — The  ictus  in  trochaic 
verse — Anapvstic  metre — Nature  and  origin  of  anapaestic  verse — 
Two  kinds  of  anapa?stic  verse — Scales  of  the  anapaestic  dimeter 
acatalectic,  of  the  paroemiac,  and  of  the  anapaestic  base — Legitimate 
and  illegitimate  systems — Niceties  to  be  observed  in  the  structure 
of  anapaestic  verse — The  synapheia  first  observed  by  Bentley— . 
Hiatus — Four  circumstances  excuse  it — Observations  with  regard 
to  the  anapaestic  base,  and  the  paro?miac— Observation  of  Elmsley 
— Antistrophic  systems — The  illegitimate  systems  differ  from  the 
legitimate  in  five  respects — The  Aristophanean  proceleusmatic  te- 
trameter— Spondiac  verses — The  laws  of  dimeter  anapapstics  gene- 
rally observed  by  comic  writers— The  anapaestic  tetrameter  catalectic 
— Logacedic  anapaestics — Other  varieties  of  anapaestic  verse — Spe- 
cimen of  an  anaparstic  system — The  ictus  in  anapaestic  verse  ac- 
cording to  Dawes,  Tato,  and  Dunbar — Dactylic  metre — Dactylic 
rhythm  termed  hoy,  trochaic  Insiiaioi — The  catalexis  of  dactvlics  is 
two-fold — Acatalectic.  verses,  except  in  systems,  end  with  dactyls- 
Various  species  of  dactylics — Niceties  in  the  structure  of  the  elegiac 
pentameter — The  heroic  hexameter— Four  caesuras  in  the  heroic — 
Bucolic  hexameters — The  Hexameter  pn'iov^t — Logaoedics — /Holies 


XVI  CONTENTS. 

— Choriambio  metre — The  catalexis  of  choriambic  verse  is  various- 
Various  species  of  choriambic  verse — Glyconic  polyschematistic— 
Choriambic  verses  sometimes  begin  with  an  anacrusis — Choriambics 
with  a  base — The  Pherecratean— The  Glyconic — Horace  always 
puts  a  spondee  in  the  base,  and  has  neglected  the  caesura  only  once—- 
The choriambic  polyschematist — The  epichoriambic — The  sapphic, 
a  species  of  epichoriambic — Antispastic  metre — Five  varieties  of  the 
antispast — Twenty  varieties  of  the  pure  antispastic  monometer 
acatalectic — Impure  antispasts — Hermann's  limitation  of  antispastic 
numbers — Various  species  of  dochmiacs — Dochmiacs  usually  joined 
in  systems— Thirty-two  variations  of  the  dochmius — Dochmiacs  with 
a  dissyllabic  anacrusis — Dochmiacs  often  augmented  at  the  begin- 
ning— The  paracataloge — Ionic  a  majore — Its  constitution — The 
iyaxXacm — The  cpionic  a  majore — The  catalexis  of  an  ionic— Her- 
mann's  views  with  respect  to  the  ionic  a  majore — Various  species 
of  the  ionic  a  majore— Latin  writers  who  used  this  metre — Ionic  a 
minore — Its  constitution — The  epionica  minore — Hermann's  views 
— The  avaxXar/s— The  JEolic  and  Ionic  lyrics — Various  species  of 
ionics  a  minore — Anacreontic  verse — Galliambie  verse — Pceonic 
metre — Its  constitution — \Vhen  most  perfect — When  most  harmo- 
nious— Its  catalexis — Hermann  differs  from  those  who  refer  cretic 
and  bacchiac  numbers  to  pseonics — Cretics— Hermann's  views  on 
cretic  numbers — His  reasons  for  distinguishing  between  them  and 
paeonics — The  catalexis  of  cretic  verses — Systems  of  dimeter  cre- 
tics— Various  species  of  cretics — Cretics  with  an  iambic  anacrusis, 
not  to  be  confounded  with  dochmiacs  preceded  by  an  iambus — Cre- 
tics used  by  the  Roman  dramatists — Bacchiacs— Bacchiac  numbers, 
referred  by  the  ancient  metricians  to  paeonic,  by  Hermann  to  tro- 
chaic, are  in  reality  spondiac  with  an  iambic  anacrusis — Various 
species  of  bacchiacs — Used  frequently  by  the  Roman  dramatists — 
Versus  prosodiacus — Polyschematistic  verses — Various  species — Ver- 
sus asynarteti — Various  species — Instances  from  Horace — Versus 
periodicus — Salurnian  verse — Concrete  numbers — Difference  be- 
tween a  system  and  a  strophe — Four  kinds  of  strophes — Three  spe- 
cies of  the  fourth  kind — Poems  divided  into  two  kinds,  viz.  xari 
ari^ov,  and  x*ri  avvr-n/jM ;  two  species  of  the  former,  six  species  of 
the  latter — Various  subdivisions— Structure  of  the:  parabasis — Great 
diversity  in  its  use — Agreement  and  difference  between  the  parodus 
and  stasimum — A  quadruple  division  of  the  chorus — Three  ways 


CONTEXT*. 

of  collecting  what  the  distribution  of  the  chorus  was  in  each  pas- 
sage—Other songs  of  the  chorus— Canon  generally  observed  by 
yEschylus  and  Sophocles,  more  accurately  by  Euripides — Dawes's 
three  canons — Person's  canons — Dunbar  explains  both  by  the  ictus 
— Dunbar's  conclusions,  with  respect  to  iambic,  trochaic,  and  ana- 
paestic verse — On  syllabic  quantity,  and  on  its  differences  in  heroic 
and  dramatic  verse — These  differences  seen  from  a  comparison  of 
Aristophanes  and  Homer — Comparison  of  syllabic  quantity  in  co- 
medy and  tragedy — Cause  of  many  mistakes  about  syllabic  quan- 
tity : *-  .....  266 

CHAPTER  VII. 

ANALYSIS    OF     HERMANN'S    TREATISE    ON    THE    DOCTRINE    OF 

METRES,    PORSON'S    PREFACE    TO    THE    HECUBA, 

AND    SUPPLEMENT. 

The  Poetry  of  the  Greeks  adapted  either  to  singing  or  recitation — 
Our  acquaintance  with  the  doctrine  of  rhythm,  and  the  science  of 
modulation  very  imperfect — The  doctrine  of  numbers  examined 
into  by  Bentley,  Brunck,  Hermann,  Porson,  Gaisford,  and  Seidler 
—Primary  basis  of  Greek  versification  according  to  Hermann — 
Metre,  numbers,  symmetry,  order — The  law  of  numbers,  objective, 
not  subjective ;  formal,  not  material ;  innate,  not  empirical — De- 
finitions of  numbers  and  of  symmetry — Inferences  deduced  from 
the  definition  of  numbers — Two  kinds  of  numbers— Ictus,  arsis, 
thesis,  anacrusis  —  Numbers  limited  or  unlimited  —  Orders  sim- 
ple or  periodic — First  arsis  of  periodic  orders  stronger  than 
every  following  arsis — That  arsis  which  is  stronger  than  the 
preceding  is  a  new  absolute  cause,  and  not  produced  from  a 
preceding  arsis — Concrete  numbers— The  times  of  orders  which 
are  in  thesis  must  all  be  equal,  as  also  the  time  of  the  anacrusis — 
Measure,  the  doubtful  measure,  the  disproportionate  measure— 
The  permutation  of  numbers  effected  in  five  ways— A  verse,  xZla, 
xofj.fj.in,  asynartete  verses — Hermann's  two  objections  to  the  me- 
trical nomenclature  of  the  grammarians — The  epiploke — Its  three 
principal  species — Catalexis,  a-xo&tnt — A  system,  tr/u^n — A  three- 
fold conjunction  of  musical  with  metrical  numbers — Three  instru- 
ments by  which  the  rhythm  of  the  words  is  adapted  to  the  rhythm 
of  the  verse— Discussion  of  the  caesura — The  syllable  of  doubtful 


XV111  CONTENTS. 

quantity—The  substitution  of  short  syllables  for  long,  or  conversely, 
can  be  effected  in  only  two  places — Illustrations  of  these  principles — 
Prosody  comprises  the  convenience  of  the  metre,  accentuation  of 
words,  intension  of  the  voice,  and  punctuation — The  convenience 
of  the  metre  lies  in  elongation  and  correption  of  syllables,  hiatus, 
elision,  crasis,  and  synizesis— Observations  on  each  of  these — 
Simple  metres — Three  kinds  of  numbers — Bare  arsis  is  seldom 
employed — A  base  consists  of  a  double  arsis — Numbers  composed 
of  equal  times  occur  rarely — Three  kinds  of  numbers  of  unequal 
times — Five  species  of  each — Mixed  and  compound  metres— Mix- 
ture twofold  —  Composition  two-fold  —  Reasons  for  considering 
iambic  and  trochaic  verse  to  be  identical — Portion's  preface  to  the 
Hecuba— His  four  canons  relating  to  grammar  and  orthography — 
Observations  in  defence  of  ench — Hermann  dissents  from  the  three 
last — The  first  part  of  the  preface  relates  to  grammar  and  ortho- 
graphy, the  second  to  versification — Emendation  of  eleven  iambic 
verses,  in  which  an  anapaest  occurs  in  the  third  place— Grammatical 
rules  involved  in  these  emendations — Person's  argument  for  the 
exclusion  of  the  anapaest  from  the  third  and  fifth  places  of  the 
senary,  deduced  from  the  license  of  admitting  an  anapaestic  proper 
name  into  any  seat — Hermann  objects  to  the  conclusiveness  of 
Person's  argument  for  the  exclusion  of  the  anapoest  from  the  fifth 
seat  of  the  senary,  without  essentially  impugning  his  doctrine — 
He  objects  on  two  grounds — In  this  part  of  his  metrical  theory  he 
differs  from  Person  in  three  important  respects — His  own  doctrine 
with  regard  to  the  anapaest — His  arguments  for  the  omission  of  the 
augment,  in  opposition  to  Porson's  canon — Conditions  with  respect 
to  the  anapaest  of  the  proper  name — Examples  of  the  extension  of 
the  anapaest  to  otlier  cases  besides  proper  names — Porson's  three 
canons  for  the  arrangement  of  the  choric  systems  —  Hermann's 
animadversions  thereon — Matthias  charges  Hermann  with  a  viola- 
tion of  his  own  rule — Matthite  disapproves  of  a  rule  of  emendation 
recommended  by  Person—Person's  observations  on  the  license 
which  tragic  writers  allowed  themselves  in  the  use  of  dialects — 
Hermann  lays  down  four  canons  for  our  guidance  in  this  matter- 
General  principle  on  which  those  canons  are  founded — Illustrations 
of  the  fourth  canon .  351 


CONTEXT*. 


XIX 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

EXCERPT A    CRITICA. 

I.  Davves*  Eleven  Canons :  with  Tate's  Notes. 

II.  Por>on's  Critical  Canons. 

III.  Blomfield's  Canons  and  Remarks. 

IV.  Monk's  Canons  and  Remarks. 

V.  Canons  and  Remarks  collected  from  Elmsley,  Person^  Uawes, 

MaUhia?,  Major,  &c. 

VI.  A  sketch  of  the  principal  usages  of  the  middle  voice  of  the 

Greek  verb,  when  its  signification  is  strictly  observed. 

VII.  Tract  on  the  Greek  Dialects   from  the   Classical  Journal. 

Ilaupt  oil  the  Dialect  of  the  Tragedians    ....  407 


CHAPTER  IX. 


EXAMINATION'  PAPERS 


.504 


THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA. 


THE    GRECIAN   DEAMA. 


CHAPTER  I. 

EXTRACTS   FROM    BENTLEY^S   DISSERTATION'    OX    PHALARIS. 

1 .  AEISTOTLE  tells  us  that  the  original  metre  of  tragedy  waa 
the  Tetrameter  Trochaic,  the  Trochaic  foot  being  more  pro- 
per for  dancing.  The  Iambic  was  adapted  to  business 
rather  than  dancing,  and  to  dialogue  rather  than  singing  ; 
the  same  reason  holds  for  the  original  metre  of  comedy, 
which  at  first  was  nothing  but  a  song  performed  by  a  chorus 
dancing  to  a  pipe. 

2.  Tragedy  and  Comedy  originally  were  nothing  but  ex- 
temporal  diversions,  neither  published,  preserved,  nor  writ- 
ten (the  Dithyrambic  Hymn  and  Satyric  chorus  being  the 
source   of  tragedy,   and  the    Phallic  song   the   source   of 
comedy) ;  this   Aristotle   and  Maximus   Tyrius   expressly 
declare  ;    and    Donatus  says,  that  Thespis  was    the  first 
who  wrote  his  plays,  though  even  this  is  opposed  by  Bentley. 

3.  This,  perhaps,  may  be  the  true  reason  why  most  of 
those  who  have  spoken  of  the  origin  of  comedy  make  no 
mention  of  Susarion,  but   ascribe   the  invention  of  it  to 
Epicharmus,  who  was  the  first  author  of  written  comedy ; 

B 


2  THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

this  is  testified  by  Theocritus,  Themistius,  Suidas,  (a  lexi- 
cographer who  lived  A.D.  975,)  Solinus  and  Donatus. 
Aristotle,  while  he  hints  at  Susarion's  pretences,  really  de- 
clares in  favour  of  Epicharmus  ;  his  words  are  :  —  "  the 
pretenders  to  the  invention  of  comedy  are  the  Megarenses, 
both  those  near  Attica,  and  those  in  Sicily  ;  for  Epicharmus 
was  of  that  place,  who  is  much  older  than  Chionides  and 
Magnes."  When  he  mentions  the  Megarenses  near  Attica, 
he  hints  at  Susarion,  who  was  born  at  that  Megara,  but  by 
passing  him  over  without  a  name,  he  plainly  signifies,  that 
his  claim  was  of  no  great  weight  ;  he  would  probably  allow 
him  to  be  the  author  of  some  extemporal  farces,  that  may 
be  called  the  first  rudiments  of  comedy. 

4.  Written  comedy  is  more  recent  than   tragedy  ;  for 
Epicharmus,  its  author,  was  contemporary  with  Hiero,  king 
of  Syracuse,  and  both  are  placed  by  the  Arundel  marble  in 
01.  77-1  —  whereas  Thespis,  generally  supposed  the  inventor 
of  tragedy,   lived   about   Olymp.  61,    and  Phrynicus,  his 
pupil,  and  probably  the  first  author  of  written  tragedy, 
gained  his  first  victory.  Olymp.  67.    To  this  Horace  agrees. 
(A.  P.  281.)       "  Successit    vetus  his  comoedia"  —  his  scil. 
Satyris  et  tragoedise  —  and  Donatus  says  that  tragedy  is 
senior  to  comedy  both  in  the  subject  of  it,  and  the  time  of 
its  invention.     Susarion,  however,  the  author  of  unwritten 
comedy,  preceded  Thespis,  living  562  B.C.  or  in  Olym.  54, 
whereas  Thespis  lived  535  B.C.  Olymp.  61,  and  the  first 
rudiments  of  tragedy,  far  from  being  serious,  were  full   of 
fun,  frolic  and  raillery,  and  were  more  like  comedy  than 
tragedy. 

5.  Rule  for  converting  the  date  in  Olympiads  to  the  year 
B.C.  —  Multiply  the  Olympiad  which  precedes  the  given  one, 
by  four  ;  to  the  product  add  a  number  one  less  than  the 


9  / 


THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA.  3 

current  year  of  the  given  Olympiad,  subtract  the  result 
from  776,  (the  epoch  from  whence  the  first  Olympiad  is 
reckoned,)  and  the  remainder  will  be  the  year  B.C.  required  : 
thus  jEschylus  was  born  01.  63.4... 62  x  4  +  3=251  .  .776- 
251=525.  B.C. 

6.  Phalaris  died  seventy-eight  years  before  the  seventy- 
seventh  Olympiad,  the  date  assigned  to  Epicharmus  by  the 
marble  ;   and  even  granting  that  Epicharmus  lived  ninety- 
seven  years,  and  died  in  that  Olympiad,  he  would  be  but 
eighteen  years  old  at  the  death  of  Phalaris ;  if  Epicharmus 
then  was  the  first  writer  of  comedy,  it  is  clear  that  Phalaris 
could  not  borrow  an  Iambic  from  the  stage. 

7.  Phormis  (which  is  the  true  name,  and  not  Phormus) 
is  also  too  young  for  Phalaris  to  quote  from ;   for  he  was 
tutor  to  Gelo's  children,  and  came  to  great  honor  in  the 
service  of  Gelo  and  of  Hiero  after  him. 

8.  On  the  whole,  it  is  manifest,  that  the  authorities  for 
Epicharmus  are  more,  and  greater,  than  those  for  Susarion; 
that  the  plays  of  Susarion  were  extemporal,  or  if  pub- 
lished, were  more  probably  in  tetrametres  and  other  cho- 
rical  measures,  fit  for  dances  and  songs,  than  in  Iambics. 

9.  It  is  true,  that  Dioniedes  Scholasticus,  in  his  com- 
mentary on  Dionysius  Thrax,  expressly  says,  that  Susarion 
was  the  beginner  of  comedy  in  verse,  and  quotes  five  Iambic 
verses,  as  though  from  a  play  of  his. 

Objection  answered — first,  Diomedes  stands  alone  in  this 
assertion  ;  second,  he  is  a  man  of  no  great  esteem ;  third, 
it  is  a  mere  conjecture  of  his  own,  as  he  lived  many  hun- 
dred years  after  the  thing  he  speaks  of ;  fourth,  these  five 
Iambics  are  spoken  in  the  person  of  Susarion,  which  proves 
that  they  are  no  part  of  a  play,  for  when  the  poet  in  his 
own  name  would  speak  to  the  spectators,  he  makes  use  of 


4  THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA. 

the  chorus  for  that  purpose,  and  it  is  called  a 
(which  frequently  occurs  in  Aristophanes)  ;  now,  there  is 
not  one  instance  in  which  the  chorus  speaks  to  the  audience 
in  Iambics,  (though  to  the  actor  it  sometimes  does,)  but 
always  in  anapaests  or  tetrametres ;  fifth,  if  Susarion  had 
written  a  play,  it  could  not  have  been  unknown  to  Aristotle, 
who  particularly  applied  himself  to  the  history  of  the 
stage,  and  wrote  a  treatise  of  the  At§a<ricaAieu,  an  account  of 
the  names,  and  the  times,  and  the  authors  of  all  the  playa 
that  ever  were  acted,  and  yet  attributes  the  invention  of 
comedy  to  the  Sicilians  long  after  Susarion.  If  these  verses 
then  were  Siisarion's,  they  were  made  on  some  other  occa- 
sion, and  not  for  the  stage. 

10.  The  Chronicon  Marmoreum,  which  is  at  Oxford,  has 
a  passage  in  a  worn  and  broken  condition,  which  Bentley 
thus  fills  up  'A$'  oiv  lv  airi'ivaig  Kw/i(oSteu  tyopiQr\ctav  VTTO  TUV 

Souo-OjOtwvoe,  KCU  aOXov  IrtOri  TT/oturov, 
KOI  oivov  aju^Ojoevc-  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  Camcenee 

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  $ 
victory  at  Olympia. 


THE  GBECIAX  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  Seldens  time  two  feet  seven  inches  in 


O  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  Cecrops  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 

made  Olymp.  129,  in  the  time  of  Ptolemy  Philadel- 
phus,  above  260  B.C.  ;  second,  the  Epigrammatist  Dios- 
corides,  who,  whilst  he  gives  .^Eschylus  the  honor  of  im- 
proving tragedy,  (e£w0u»cre,  he  exalted  its  style  by  ^EotrjutXtura 
•ypajujuara,  new-carved  words,)  attributes  ev/otjua,  the  in- 
vention of  it  to  Thespis  ;  and  in  another  epigram  says, 
rpaytKriv  avtVAacTE  Trpiorog  ao/Srjv,  Baic^oc  ort  rpirbv 


\opbv  —  by  the  three  choruses  of  Bacchus,  Dios- 
corides  means  the  Trina  Dionysia,  the  three  festivals  of 
Bacchus,  the  Atovuo-ta  —  ra  KCIT'  aypovg,  TO.  tv  Aifivatg^  ra 
Kar*  OOTU,  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  IlavaOrivaia, 
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.  275tj  3. 
before  quoted.  Fourth,  the  old  Scholiast  on  Horace,  who 
tells  us  that  Thespis  was  the  first  inventor  of  tragedy. 
Fifth,  Plutarch,  ."  that  Thespis  gaveJJie_jjse^Jp_the  very 
rudiments  of  tragedy./'  Sixth,  Clemens  (if  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  f  / 
Thespis  was  born  there ;"  and  again,  that,  "  the  ancient 
poets,  Thespis,  Pratinas,-  Carcinus  and  Phrynicus,  were 
called  'Opx7!*"""^"0')  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  opxriariKUTtpa,  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  t 
fir*t  introduced  tragedy ;"  ninth,  and  Donatus  says,  "  if 
we  search  into  antiquity,  we  shah*  find  that  Thespis  first  in-  $ 
vented  it."1  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-  /. 
tiinent,  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 

I  Sicyonian ;  but  Suidas  is  the  only  witness  in  his  favor,  and 
I  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 
'  -j  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  "AAicrjoTie  of  Thespis  ;  Julius  Pollux,  his  rUv&uc,  and 
Suidas   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- 
l'  j  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  vAX/aj<rrte — (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  JEschylus,   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,  Chamseleon,  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  Sarupiica,  but  afterwards  the  poets 
went  off  to  fables  and  histories,  which  gave  occasion  to  the 
saying,  "  this  is  nothing  to  Bacchus,"  ov$tv  irpog  Atovutrov ; 
and   Plutarch   tells   us  that   Phrynichus   first   introduced 
serious  tragedy;  hence,  it  is  evident,  that  the  true  Thespis's 
plays  were  all  satyrical  (i.  £.),  the  plot  of  them  was  the  story 
of  Bacchus,  the  chorus  consisted  of  satyrs,  and  the  argu- 
ment was  merry  ;  even  after  the  time  of  Thespis,  the  serious 
tragedy  came  on  so  slowly,  that  of  fifty  plays  of  Pratinas, 
who  was  in  the  next  generation  after  Thespis,  thirty-two 
are  said  to  have  been  satyrical.     Now,  let  us  apply  this 
observation  to  the  fragments  ascribed  to  Thespis.     Second, 
Julius  Pollux  quotes  a  verse  out  of  Thespis's  Pentheus ; 
and  third,  Suidas  mentions  the  titles  of  others  of  his  plays, 
as  4>o/o/3ac,  and  'leptig,  and  'Htfltot,  but  these  titles  show 
that  they  cannot  be  satyrical  plays,  and  consequently   not 
Thespis's,  who  made  none  but  of  that  sort.     The  HtvQivs 
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  ;"  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 


THE   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- 
elides"  forgeries  imposed  on  Pollux,  Suidas,  and  Plutarch. 

17.  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  Crossus,    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  MtX/jrou  aXwcrtc  ;    the  taking  of   Miletus  was 
in  Olymp.  70,  Phrynichus  then  must  have  been  alive  after 
Olymp.  70.     Again,  his  Phcenissse  (from  which  ^Eschvlus 
borrowed  his  Persse,  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  Choragus.   which,  therefore,  most  pro- 
bably was  the  Phoemssse  ;  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  Olynip.  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  Phoenissse,  will  be  very  lame,  as  it  may  be  said 
that  the  author  of  the  Phoenissse  was  not  the  Phrynicus 
who  was  Thespis1  s  scholar.    The  only  pretence  for  asserting 
two  tragic  poets  of  that  name,  is  a  passage  of  Suidas,  who, 
after  he  had  named  Plirynichus,  the  son  of  Polyphradmon, 
or  Minyras,  or  Chorocles,  the  scholar  of  Thespis,  and  that 
his  tragedies  are  nine,   giving  their  titles;  under  a   new 
head,  gives  Phryniehus,  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  Phoenissse,"  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,1'  or  who  quote  Phrynichus  on  other  occasions, 
merely  style  him  Phrynichus  the  tragedian,  without  adding 
6  vtwTipoq  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  Chorocles,  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 
TElian  makes  him  the  same  with  the  tragic  poet,  adding, 
that  in  his  tragedy  nvppi\ai,  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\moii.t\ii(n$<i)vo<}>pvvi\i]paTa,  a  coined  word, 
in  which  <n<Wo  relates  to  the  Phcenissse,  (the  Sidonians,)  a 
play  of  Phrynichus;  here  we  see  the  author  of  the  Phoenissse 
(whom  they  suppose  to  be  the  latter  Phryniehus)  is  meant 
by  Aristophanes ;  but  he  also  must  have  meant  here  the 
Scholar  of  Thespis,  from  the  words  julXrj  o/o^ata,  "  ancient 
songs11 — ancient,  because  that  Phrynichus  was  the  second, 
or  as  some  thought,  the  first  author  of  tragedy;  and  "songs," 
because  he  was  celebrated  for  his  songs  and  tunes  ;  hence 
it  appears,  they  were  one  and  the  same.  The  Scholiast 
says  that  Phryuichus,  sou  of  Polyphradmon,  bad  a  mighty 


J|  THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

name  for  making  songs,  and  he,  according  to  Suidas,  was 
Thespis's  scholar ;  it  is  a  problem  of  Aristotle,  "  why  did 
Phrynichus  make  more  songs  than  any  tragedian  now-a- 
daysf  And  he  answers  it — "Because  at  that  time  the  songs 
sung  by  the  chorus  were  many  more  than  the  verses  spoken 
by  the  actors  f — 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  Athenaeus  and  Aristotle,  that  the  an- 
cient poets,  Thespis,  Pratinas,  Carcinus,  and  Phrynichus, 
were  called  fy%$qfgp\)  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 
ThespiSj  famous  for  his  dancing,  and  consequently,  by  the 
authority  of  Athenseus,  he  must  be  6  apxatog  Qpvvixoe, 
6  OjOxrjortKoe?  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, 
^Enesidamus,  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  tune, 
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  JEschylus 
were  the  first  who  introduced  MvOovg  KOI  HaO^  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  auro<rx£Siaffjuara,  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  SariynK?)  KOL  opxnanK^ 
and  had  no  serious  and  doleful  argument,  as  Minos  must  be. 
Herodotus  says,   the  Sicyonians  honored  the  memory  of 
Adrastus  with  tragical  choruses,  (rpayiKol  x0/00^)  an^  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  wrere  choruses  and 
extemporal  songs,  avTo<rxE&a(mica,  but  nothing  written  or 
published  as  a  dramatic  poem;  nay,  the  very  word  tragedy 
was  not  then  heard  of  at  Sicyon,  though  Herodotus  names 
TpayiKove  x°P°^  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, weight  hundred  years  after  his  death,  Ol.  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  Tpvj^la,  and 
rpa\fla  <j)Sr),  and  derives  it  from_rgojrog  the  goat,  (the  prize  I  /2£~** 
and  not  the  sacrifice)  _and  &>3»/._  The  goat,  he  concludes,  !  <rf- 
was  first  constituted  the  prize  in  the  time  of  Thespis  ;  from 
the  Arundel  marble  in  the  epoch  of  Thespis,  KOI  aO\ov 
IrlOi)  o  Tpa-yos  ;  from  Dioscorides,  in  his  epigram  on  Thes- 
pis, o>  -pajog  aO\ov,  and  from  Horace,  "  carmine  qui  tragico 
vilem  certavit  ob  hircmn  ;"  he  also  quotes  Eusebius,  Dio- 
mcdes  the  grammarian,  and  Philargyritis,  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- 
tu.s ;  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  rpayiKove 
X<>pov£,  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 

c 


18  THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA. 

the  CWrtaiUr  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  TpayqNa  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- 
/j.ivti}v  Tuv  TTtfA.  Qiamv  Tf/v  TpayM$iav  Kivttv,  imply  rather 
change  in  rpayq^ia,  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  TpajiKtiv  aotSjjv. 
On  the  whole,  it  appears,  that  long  before  Thespis,  the 
term  rpay^ia  was  formed,  and  employed  as  the  name  of 
the  choral  performances  in  the  Dionysia,  but  from  not  dis- 
tinguishing between  rpayi^ta,  in  its  original  signification, 
and  the  tragedy  of  ^Eschylus,  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   DBAMA.  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 
:•<?  became  abusive  ;  for  the  satire  of  Ennius  and  Pacu- 
vius  was  quite  of  another  nature. 
'27.  The  expressions  £ 


which  became  proverbial  for  satire  and  jeering,  were  not 
takenjrom  Thespis's  cart^  (which,  if  true,  might  afford  ^ 
some  foundation  for  believing  that  the  satyrical  plays  of  the  i£i~-£ 
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,  andjjarticularly  in  the  Eleusr- 
nian  feast,  from  whence  the  women  abused  and  jeered  one 
another  (hence  the  word  Tro/zTrcvEti',  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  ytQvp'&iv  —  these  Eleusinian  carts 
are  mentioned,  Georg.  i.  103,  >;tardaque  Eleusinre  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 
TTOJUTTEVEIV  in  this  sense,  also  the  phrase  i£  a/za^Tjc  JUE  w/B/ato-f, 
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  wore  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,  we  t£  u^a^q  XaXetv,  to  rail  impudently,  as  out  of 
a  cart. 

28.  Besides  the  arguments  brought  forward  by  Bcntley 
to  prove  that  the  name  tragedy  was  not  older  than  the 
time  of  Thespis,  ho  states  that  those  Bacchic  hymns,  from 
whence  the  regular  tragedy  came,  wrere  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  ;"  Ai9vpafj.j3oQ  (says  Suidas)  vpvog  ug 
Atovuo-ov.  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  Methymnso,  in  the  time  of  Pcriander,  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  w^ho  exhibited  at  Corinth  a  certain 
modification  of  the  old  Bacchic  hymn,  and  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.  -1 

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  GOO  B.  C.  it  was  matter 
of  scientific  composition  and  regular  exhibition  in  the  largest 
and  most  opulent  of  the  Dorian  cities.  Sinionides  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,  wore  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,  <S: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  Pclopon- 
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, 
KvicXtoc,  not  KUk-AtKoc; — cyclian,  not  cyclic — from  their  danc- 
ing in  a  ring  round  the  altar  of  Bacchus  ;  the  number  of 
the  Cyclian  Choristers  was  fifty  ;  there  wore  three  choruses 
belonging  to  Bacchus,  the  Kcu/moc,  r/oayiKoe,  and  the 
KVK\LOG  ;  the  last  had  its  prize  and  its  judges  at  the  Diouysia, 
as  \vell  as  the  others— and  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  jSoijXarrje- 

30.  The  most  common  etymology  of    AiOu/oajujSoe,   is 
St0u/oajuoe,  double -doored,  a  name  of  Bacchus,  alluding  to 
his  double  birth,  having  passed  through  two  doors ;   it  is 
objected  that  the  first  syllable   in  SiOvpapfioe  is   always 
long,  whereas  all  compounds,  with  <Si,  implying  double,  have 
the  &  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  i'ctjujSoe,  fy>ia/z/3oe, 
and  SiOvpa/uifiog,  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  9/>/a/ij3oe  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  Psean  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  DRA3IA.  23 

32.  KwjU(o8/o  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 
(tv  Kwfjiaig  y'S)))  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  KWJUOUC,  and  says 
that  his  plays  were  an  entertainment  to  the   Kw/ilirat  ;  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  rpay^ia  from  the  goat,  and 
this  name  is  never  applied  to  comedy ;  even  in  a  passage  of 
Aristophanes,  where  rpcr/woaJv,  seems  to  be  used  for  come- 
dians, it  is  a  corruption  of  the  text  for  rpvytySuv ;   and  the 
other  was  called  TpvyqSta,  from  the  cask  of  wine,  Tpv£,  or 
from  rpv-yih  vintage,  and  this  word  is  never  applied  to  tra- 
gedy ;  the  only  distinction  between  rpvy^bg  and  KvpqSog 
being,  that  the  former  is  the  less  honorable  name  :  it  is 
true,  that  Aristophanes  calls  Euripides's  tragedies,  TjOuywSfa, 
but   in  this  consist  the  wit  and  sarcasm  of  the  passage, 
that  he  calls  Euripides' s  plays,  co,nedies,  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  ^Eschylus  and  Sophocles  aspired  after  the  sublime 
character,  and  by  metaphors,  and  epithets,  raid  compound 
words,  made  all  their  lines  strong  and  lofty. 

33.  The  prize  for  the  KcdaptpSoi,  or  harpers,  was  a  calf, 
juoff^oc-     If  the  bull  and  the  calf,  the  prizes  for  the  dithy- 
ramb and  the  harp,  continued  to  the  time  of  Aristophanes, 


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 
rpnjM^ia  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 
KWfUijSia  from  KO^UJJ,  (j/S/'/,  or  ica^ua^w,  to  revel;  and  rpvyi^ia 
from  rpuyrj,  vintage,  or  Tpv£,  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, 
/V-,      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  Tpayq&a  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  ono  of 
jiEschylus'  plays,  and  the  other  ornaments  were  first 
brought  in  by  ^Eschylus ;  now  JEschylus  made  his  first 
play,  01.  70,  and  his  last,  01.  80 ;  his  first  victory  was 
gained  Ol.  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  liis  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 — (Eneus,   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 
a.s  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,    ai//\7]-u«,   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  \opds  oyfywv, 
twenty — the  Trvppi\t(TTai,  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  minae,  or  seventy-five   pounds.     When 
such  then  was  the  expense  of  a  tragic  chorus  in  the  time 


26  THE  GRECIAN  DBAMA. 

of  Lysias  and  Demosthenes,  the  word  rpay^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  rpay^ia  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"  of  Phrynichus,  and 
the  "  Persians"  of  JEschylus,  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^rinciple  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- 


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..  "Agricokeprisci, 
fortes,  parvoque  beati,  condlta  post  fmmenta"  &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  Lenaea,  TO. 
n<0otym,  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  Baghcsa  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  ig  tliQ 


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  satyrieal — the  PhaUic  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  hia 
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.     Fawn?  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  God,  and  to  pour  forth  their  ludicrous  effusions, 
which,  to  a  certain  degree,  were  of  a  dramatic  nature,  but 
aurocrxE&arrjuara,  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 
TpayqSla.  (or  goat-song)  comprehended  the  several  choral 
chantings  in  the  Dionysia  (unless  Bentley's  opinion  bo  cor- 
rect, viz.,  that  the  goat  was  not  the  prize,  or  the  term 


THE  GRE6IAS  DRAMA.  8l 

ta  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 
iw,  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  xo/°°C  « vc/>wv,  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-KaXtat.)     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  sarcasm*,  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  s^ap^ni  rov  S«0ilpa^/3ov)  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 
Nosera  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.  oi,  B.C.  5'i2, 
Susarion,  a  native  of  Icaria,  presented  himself  and  his 
comedy  at  Athens,  rehearsing  it  on  amoveablc  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  Ol.  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   GRECIAX   DRAMA.  S3 

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  tiriiaoSia,  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  .^Eschylus.  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 


S4f  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.  85 

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  Polyphradnion,  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  Pisistratida?,  two  before  that  of  the  Tar- 
quins.  Up  to  this  period,  the  performance  called  rpay^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  hi  the  mythology  and  history  of  his 
country;  as  appears  from  his  '•  Capture  of  Miktas  and 
Phcenissce  ;""  he  thus  was  the  author  of  the  serious  Drama. 

•  —  •  .       I    x*»    -f— 

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  /ujjuj}<rae  S/aa/utmicai  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  /U^UTJ<TE<C 
SpaftaTiKoi  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.  (^Eschylus,  the  successor 
of  Phrynichus,  avowed  his  obligations  to  Homer  ;  he  mo- 
destly declared  his  tragedies  to  be  but  T£juax»?  TUV  'Ofiripov 
fj.fya.Xwv  SHTTVWV.)  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.  37 

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  studiejjl  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  Phryniehus,  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  ^Eschylus  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 


38  THE   GRECIAN    DKAMA. 

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, Histisous  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  ^Eschylus,  exhibited  four  years 
after  it — and  in  composing  which,  ^Eschylus  is  charged  by 
4ec«Ut  Glaucus  of  Bhegium  (400  B.C.)  with  having  borrowed 
largely  from  the  Phoanissse.  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  ^Eschylus  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.  39 

tratus.  If  Solon  disapproved  of  Thespis'  plays,  it  must 
have  been  before  Pisistratus  established  his  tyranny,  which 
was  in  01.  54,  and  they  must  have  been  satyrical,  forlSolon 
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'  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 
hsec  script  a  in  omnium  notitiam  protulit ;"  and  Horace,  in 
his  art  of  Poetry,  and  more  particularly  in  2nd  Epist.l,  163, 
"et  post  Punica  bella  quietus  quserere  ccepit,'1  "quid  So- 
phocles et  Thespis  et  ^Eschylus  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 ;  a-s  his  work  is  chiefly 
critical,  he  dates  his  account  of  the  Drama  from  ^Eschylus 
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  Epicharnius  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  icwjuai,  and  Spav  in  their  dialect,  whereas  the 
Athenians  use  Sjjjuoi  and  Trparruv  ;  he  might  as  well  have 
given  the  invention  of  Comedy  to  the  Megarensians  for 
their  being  notorious  laughers,  ^IXwc  fjLtyapiKoz,  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  KWjutu  and  Spav,  has  no  foundation  in  fact ;  Aris- 
tophanes in  his  comedies  frequently  putting  the  verb  Spav 
in  the  mouth  of  the  Athenian  speakers,  and  Kw^ai  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    Home  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 


t 
i 


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  Atellanse,"  and  not  suffered  to 
be  performed  by  common  actors  ;  hence  the  actors  of  tho 
Atellajise  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  JEschylus,  two  other  Tra- 
gedians, Chcerilus  and  Pratinas  intervened  ;  the  Dramas  of 
Chcerilus  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, 
Ol.  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  JEschylus  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  ^Eschylus  in 
willing  Satyrical  Dramas."  Pratinas  also  wrote  Hyporchemes. 


42  THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

he  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  Orchoinenus  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   ORECIAX    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  ite  origin  to  ^Eschylus. 
He  was  son  of  Euphorion,  and  born  at  Eleu.sis  in  Attica, 
01.  63.4,  B.C.  52JK  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-  a  +- 
five  he  made  his  first  essay,  Ol.  70,  B.C.  499,  Pratinas  and 
Choerilus  being  his  antagonists  ;  the  next  notice  we  have  of 
him  is  in  01.  72.3,  B.C.  490,  when,  with  his  three  brothers 
Aineinias,  Euphorion  and  Cynaegirus,  he  was  graced  at 
Marathon  with  the  prize  of  pre-eminent  valour,  being  then 
thirty-five  years  of  age  ;  like  Alcaeus  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  Greloans.  n.  -f~ 
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  mpumlm  were  decreed  ;  at  one  of  his 
plays,  the  people  enraged  at  an  attack  he  made  on  their  su- 
perstitious, 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  stage. 


44  THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA. 

Amemias*  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,  Glaucus,  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  Ol.  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  ^Eschylus,  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  6f 

*  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  sorae3  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  Catana,  which  Hiero  having 
rebuilt,  called  ^Etna ;  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  irtSaopoi  for  [JitTtwpoi,  ir&apmos  for 


'"- 


oCM*^ 


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  Miltiades.  Quinctiliaji  assigns  a  different 
reason  for  the  decree  just  mentioned ;  he  says  it  was  for  the 
purpose  of  having  his  plays  corrected,  which  were  rude  ami 
unpolished.  He  is  said  to  have  composed  seventy  Dramas, 
of  which  fivo  were  satyrical,  and  he  was  thirteen  tunes  A/., 
victor;  seven  are  still  extant ;  Sophocles  composed,  accord- 

*  He  probably  visited  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 ; 

7      .     he  was  only  five  times  victor ;  the  extant  plays  of  ^Eschylus 

in  chronological  order,  are  the  Supplices,  Persse,  Prometheus 

y3a»X  vmctus,  Septem  contra  Thebas,  Agamemnon,  Choephori, 

$f&&&  Eumenides ;  those  of  Sophocles,    are  the  Ajax,   Electra, 

~~?—    -  (Edipus  Tyrannus,  Antigone,  Trachinise,  Philoctetes,  CEdi- 

pus  Coloneus. 

yEschylus  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.     2Eschylus 
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  ^schylus,  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-    ^ .  5 
ance   of  numbers,    the  science  of   physiognomy,  and   the     U. 
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. 


45  THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

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  ^Eschylus  and  Euripides  for 
the  tragic  chair  among  the  departed  spirits ;  Bacchus  is 
judge,  who  decides  in  favour  of  ^Eschylus ;  the  decree  is 
also  decisive  against  Sophocles,  for  he  declares  his  acquies- 
cence under  the  judgment,  if  it  should  be  given  for  -flSschy  • 
lus,  but  if  otherwise,  he  avows  himself  ready  to  contest 
the  palm  with  Euripides;  thus  Aristophanes  ranks  JEschylus 
superior  to  the  dignified  Sophocles  and  the  philosophic 
Euripides ; — this  opinion,  however,  was  not  held  by  all ; 
Aristodemus  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  JEschylus,  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  tlie  Dante  of  the  Grecian  Drama,  At  his  death,  Sophocles 


THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA.  49 

was  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  ^Eschylus  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,  Ol.  71.2, 
B.C.  495.  (^Eschylus  B.C.  525,  Euripides  B.C.  480.)  He 
was  thus  thirty  years  junior  to  ^schylus,  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  Palaestra,  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 
paean  of  their  country's  triumph  after  the  victory  of  Salamis : 
his  first  victory  was  gained  in  his  twenty-fifth  year,  B.C.  468, 
on  the  occasion  of  the  bones  of  Theseus  being  transferred 
from  Scyros  to  Athens  by  Cimon : — /Eschylus,  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  event, 

*  He  was  thus  the  Exarchus,  and  possibly,  therefore,  composed  the 
Ode. 

E 


5(J  THE  GRECIAN  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  TTjoo/SouAot, 
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  lophon,  (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. 


T/HE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  51 

cording  to  some,  that  beautiful  chorus  only,  in  which  he 
celebrates  the  loveliness  of  liis  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  Ranse,  during  the 
Lensean  festival  in  that  year)  Ol.  93.4,  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  Calh'pides  brought  him  from 
Opus,  at  the  time  of  the  Anthesteria ;  others  from  exertion 
in  reading  aloud-}-  a  long  paragraph  of  the  Antigone ; 
others  from  joy  at  gaming  a  poetical  prize  at  the  Olympic 
Games;  others  from  joy  at  gaining  the  prize  on  the  exhi- 
bition of  his  QEdipus  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  QEdipus  at  Co- 
lonus  must  have  been  acted,  at  least  for  the  first  time,  before  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Peloponnesian  war. 

•f-  As  Js-^yofojy/a  was  attributed  to  Sophocles,  if  it  arose  from  delicate 
lungs,  this  account  of  his  death  is  probable  enough  ;  there  are  chrono- 
logical objections  to  the  other  statements.  See  Clinton,  F.H.  ii.p.  85. 


62  THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA. 

pleasure ;  Plato  records  a  saying  of  his,  "  I  thank  old  age 
for  delivering  me  from  the  tyranny  of  my  passions." 
Aristophanes,  who  in  his  Ranee,  manifests  so  much  respect 
for  Sophocles,  then  just  dead,  had,  fourteen  years  before, 
accused  him  of  avarice,  an  imputation  not  reconcileablo 
with  his  character ;  a  kindly  and  contented  disposition, 
blemished  with  intemperance  in  pleasures,  was  the  charac- 
teristic of  Sophocles-— a  character  beautifully  described  by 
Aristophanes  in  this  line-— 

'O  S'  euKoAoe  fJiiv  Iv0a$\  cuKoXoc  8'  licet. 

He  gave  the  last  improvements  to  Tragedy  ;*  added  a 
third  actor,  a  number  which  was  never  afterwards  in- 
creased ;  he  shortened  the  choral  songs  further,  and  more 
fully  developed  the  dialogue ;  introduced  a  more  laboured 
complication  of  the  plot,  a  greater  multiplicity  of  incidents 
and  a  more  complete  unfolding  of  them;  a  more  steady 
method  of  dwelling  on  all  the  points  of  an  action,  and  of 
bringing  out  the  more  decisive  ones  with  greater  stage-effect; 
under  his  directions  the  effect  of  theatric  representation  was 
heightened  by  the  illusion  of  scenery  carefully  painted  and 
duly  arranged :  his  odes  are  distinguished  by  their  close 
connection  with  the  business  of  the  play,  the  correctness 
of  their  sentiments,  and  the  beauty  of  their  poetry ;  he 
improved  the  rhythm ;  his  versification  is  softer,  and  his 
style  more  sweet  than  that  of  ^Eschylus  ;  he  studied  music 
and  the  dance  under  Lamprus,  and  in  both  was  an  adept ; 
he  danced,  or,  according  to  some,  played  ball,  at  the  per- 

*  ^Eschylus  introduced  three  actors  into  some  of  his  later  dramas ; 
for  instance,  the  Choephorae — but  he  doubtless  borrowed  the  hint 
from  Sophocles,  who  gained  his  first  victory  twelve  years  before  the 
death  of  ^Eschylus. 


TOE  GRECIAN  DRAMA.  £3 

formance  of  his  own  Nausicaa.*  and  accompanied  the 
choruses  of  his  Thamyris  with  his  voice  and  harp ;  his  pic- 
tures of  women  are  flatteringly  drawn,  and  his  style  is  com- 
pared to  the  honey  of  the  Bee  for  sweetness ;  his  language, 
though  at  times  marked  by  harsh  metaphor  and  perplexed 
construction,  is  pure  and  majestic,  without  soaring  into  the 
gigantic  phraseology  of  ^Eschylus  on  the  one  hand,  or  sink- 
ing into  the  common-place  diction  of  Euripides  on  the 
other.  His  management  of  a  subject  is  admirable.  No  one 
understood  so  well  the  artful  envelopement  of  incident,  the 
secret  excitation,  and  the  gradual  heightening  of  the  feel- 
ings up  to  the  final  crisis,  when  the  catastrophe  bursts  forth 
in  all  the  force  of  overwhelming  terror  or  compassion. 
Such  was  Sophocles,  the  most  perfect  in  dramatic  arrange- 
ment, the  most  sustained  in  the  even  flow  of  dignified 
thought,  word,  and  tone,  among  the  Tragic  Triumvirate. 
In  the  words  of  Porson — "  Sophocles  nullam  scenam,  nul- 
lam  personam  inducit,  quse  non  ad  dramatis  ceconomiam 
pertineat,  Chorus  ejus  nihil  intercinit,  quod  non,  secunduin 
Horatii  prseceptum,  proposito  conducat  et  apte  cohsereat, 
Heroas  suos,  aut  pietatis  et  justitise  amantes,  imitando  pro- 
ponit,  aut  secus  sentientes  merito  supplicio  afficit." 

All  the  plays  of  JEschylus  contained  three  Episodes  or  Acts, 
their  intervals  being  occupied  by  the  chants  of  the  chorus, 
but  sometimes  the  chorus,  either  excited  by  violent  feeling, 
or  the  economy  of  the  play  demanding  it,  sung  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  aots,  so  that  there  are  two  kinds  of  the  chorus 
of  ^Eschylus,  the  one,  of  those  which  intervene  between  the 
Episodes,  called  ordinary,  the  other  of  those  which  chant.  \ 

*.The  Nausicaa  was  probably  a  Satyric  Drama  ;  the  Odyssee  was 
a  rich  storehouse  for  the  satyrical  plays.  Sophocles  appeared  but  rarely 
on  the  stage  in  consequence  of  the  weakness  of  his  voice. 


in  the  middle  of  the  Episodes  called*  extraordinary— -the 
first  kind  may  bo  reduced  to  three  classes — hymns  of  praise 
on  account  of  prosperous  events,  or  dirges,  deploring  their 
own  or  their  friend's  misfortunes,  or  moral  precepts,  drawn 
from  the  circumstances  of  the  play. 

Sophocles,  in  matters  relating  to  tho  chorus,  departed 
much  from  the  ancient  nature  of  the  tragic  chorus ;  in  his 
plays,  the  chorus  never  sustains  the  first  part ;  misfortunes 
never  affect  the  chorus  itself,  but  it  is  always  united  in  the 
bonds  of  friendship  with  the  first  character  of  tho  play ; 
hence  it  does  not  exhibit  those  violent  feelings,  with  which 
it  is  excited  in  the  plays  of  ^Eschylus ;  itself,  struck  with 
terror,  does  not  produce  horror  in  the  minds  of  the  spec- 
tators, but  moved  with  pity  for  its  friends,  it  leads  the 
spectators  also  to  pity ;  hence  its  chants,  though  connected 
with  the  plot  of  the  play,  are  less  so  than  in  ./Eschylus, 
who,  when  he  does  not  commit  the  first,  does  the  second 
part  or  character  to  the  chorus ;  its  chants,  shortened  by 
JEschylus,  are  still  more  so  by  Sophocles — and  the  episodes, 
their  number  being  increased- — are  so  joined  together,  that 
the  stage  being  scarcely  ever  left  free  from  actors,  the  ac- 
tion of  the  play  always  advances ;  whereas  in  tho  plays  of 
JEschylus,  when  each  episode  was  finished,  the  actors  re- 
tired, and  the  chorus  chanted  ;  in  Sophocles  the  chants  of 
the  chorus  frequently  succeed  the  Episodes,  most  frequently 

*  An  instance  of  an  extraordinary  chorus  arising  from  the  economy 
of  the  play  is  that  of  the  Persae,  where  the  chorus  invokes  the  in- 
fernal Gods  at  the  command  of  Atossa.  An  instance  of  one  arising 
from  sudden  impulse  of  passion,  is  in  the  Choephorce,  where  the 
chorus  breaks  out  into  an  address  to  Orestes  and  Electra,  whilst  en- 
gaged in  avenging  the  death  of  Agamemnon,  in  the  midst  of  the  third 
Episode, 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  55 

however  they  are  inserted  in  other  places ;  hence  the  eco- 
nomy of  the  plays  of  Sophocles  does  not  admit  the  two- 
fold distinction  of  the  chorus,  which  the  plays  of  ^Eschylus 
do — but  this  distinction  being  laid  aside,  all  the  choruses 
of  Sophocles  may  be  reduced  to  four — hymns — dirges — 
philosophical  sentiments — or  predictions*  concerning  the 
doubtful  issue  of  events. 

>  17.  Euripides  was  the  son  of  Mnesarchus  and  Clito,  of 
the  borough  Phlya,  and  the  Cecropid  tribe;  born  01.  75.1, 
B.C.  480,  in  Salamis,  (whither  his  parents  had  retired  . 
during  the  occupation  of  Attica  by  Xerxes,)  on  the  very 
day  of  the  Grecian  victory  near  that  Island ;  he  is  said  to 
have  been  much  attached  to  Salamis,  and  to  have  written 
his  tragedies  in  a  gloomy  cave  in  that  island — others  say 
that  he  was  born  on  the  day  the  Greeks  gained  the  battle 
of  the  Euripus,  and  that  he  was  thence  surnamed  Eu- 
ripides. Aristophanes  (and  Theopompus  agrees  with  him) 
says,  that  his  mother  was  an  herb-seller — Philochorus, 
on  the  contrary,  endeavours  to  prove  that  she  was  a  lady 
of  noble  birth :  a  presumptive  argument  in  favour  of  the 
respectability  of  his  birth  is  given  in  Athenseus,  who  says, 
that  the  most  noble  boys  used  to  feast  with  the  Magistrates, 
and  mentions  Euripides  as  an  instance  ;  and  Theophrastus 

*  These  predictions  were  required  in  Sophocles  and  Euripides,  not 
so  in  -Sschylus ;  for  the  economy  of  his  dramas  did  not  present  a  gra- 
dual and  successive  unravelling1  of  the  plot,  so  that  there  was  no  room 
for  any  expectation  of  strange  occurrences,  or  any  uncertainty  of 
event,  which  would  originate  doubts  and  anticipations  on  the  part  of 
the  chorus  ;  these  predictions  were  also  founded  on  the  opinion  of  the 
ancients,  that  lyric  poetry  was  composed  under  the  influence  of  a  di- 
•vine  afflatus,  hence  prophetic  intimations  were  regarded  as  suitable  to 
the  character  of  the  chorus — there  is  an  instance  of  this  in  CEdipu? 
rex.  v.  1105 — 28 — where  the  chorus  starts  several  conjectures  concern- 
ing the  origin  of  CEdipus. 


66  THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA. 

says,  that  when  a  boy  he  officiated  as  cup-bearer  to  a 
chorus  of  the  most  distinguished  Athenians,  in  the  festival 
of  the  Delian  Apollo ;  as,  however,  the  birth  and  parent- 
age of  a  distinguished   dramatist  must  have  been  well 
known  in  Athens,  there  would  have  been  neither  point  nor 
poignancy  in  the  jeering  of  Aristophanes  on  his  birth  by 
the  mother's  side,  had  it  not  been  a  fact  of  public  no- 
toriety ;  it  is  then  probable  his  mother  was  of  humble  sta- 
tion ; — his  father  must  have  been  a  man  of  wealth,  from 
the  costly  education  he  gave  his  son  ;  the  pupil  of  Anax- 
agoras,  Protagoras,  and  Prodicus  (who  was  so  extravagant 
that  he  got  the  name  of  7r£i/rrjicovro8/>axjuoe,  from  the  sum 
he  charged  as  the  price  of  his  tuition,)  could  not  have  been 
the  son  of  persons  very  mean  or  poor  : — his  father,  led  by 
an  oracle,  which  promised  future  crowns  to  his  son,  (poetic 
garlands,)  thinking  gymnastic  garlands  were  intended,  di- 
rected his  attention  in  early  life  to  gymnastic  exercises, 
and  in  his  seventeenth  year,  he  was  crowned  in  the  Eleusi- 
nian  and  Thesean  contests  ;  it  does  not  appear  that  he  was 
ever  a  candidate  in  the  Olympian*  games ;   even  at  this 
early  age,  however,  he  is  said  to  have  attempted  dramatic 
composition  ;  he  also  cultivated  a  natural  taste  for  painting, 
and  some  of  his  pictures  were  long  afterwards  preserved  at 
Megara;  at  length  quitting  the  gymnasium,   he  applied 
himself  to  philosophy  and  literature ;  under  the  celebrated 
rhetorician  Prodicus,  he  acquired  that  oratorical  skill  for 
which  his  dramas  are  so  remarkably  distinguished,  so  much 
so,  that  Quinctilian  recommends  him  above  Sophocles,  or 
any  other,  to  the  young  pleader,  "  in  style  (says  he)  he  ap- 
proaches to  the  oratorical,  being  dense  in  his  sentences, 
equal  to  the  philosophers  in  his  sentiments,  and  to  be  com- 

•  He  was  excluded  from  a  contest  with  the  younger  combatants,  an 
objection  beipg  raised  against  him,  on  account  of  his  age. 


THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA.  57 

pared  to  the  most  eloquent  of  the  forum  in  speaking  and 
answering,  wonderful  in  expressing  all  the  emotions,  but 
excelling  all  in  exciting  the  emotions  of  pity,  madness,  and 
love — he  was  admired  and  imitated  by  Menander ;"  Cicero 
also  was  a  great  admirer  of  Euripides,  probably  on  account 
of  his  oratorical  excellence  ;  from  Anaxagoras  he  imbibed 
those  philosophical  notions,  which  are  occasionally  brought 
forward  in  his  works — for  instance,  that  the  sun  was  a 
glowing  mass  of  iron — pvSpov  Siairvpov — that  the  overflow- 
ing of  the  Nile  was  occasioned  by  the  melting  of  the  snow 
in  ./Ethiopia,  that  air  and  earth  are  the  producing  causes 
of  all  things,  that  the  Deity  is  auro^injc-  Pericles  was  his 
fellow-disciple,  under  both  Prodicus  and  Anaxagoras ;  So- 
crates was  his  fellow-pupil  under  Anaxagoras ;  with  him  he 
was  on  terms  of  the  closest  intimacy,  and  from  him  he  de- 
rived those  moral  gnomse  so  frequently  interwoven  into  his 
speeches  and  narrations  ;  indeed  it  is  stated  that  Socrates 
largely  assisted  Euripides  in  the  composition  of  his  plays, 
and  that  he  seldom  went  to  the  theatre,  except  to  see  some 
new  tragedy  of  his  performed ;  this  philosophising  in  his 
Dramas  gave  Euripides  the  name  of  the  "stage  philoso- 
pher." 

The  immediate  cause  which  determined  him  to  relinquish 
the  study  of  philosophy,  and  devote  himself  to  tragic  compo- 
sition, is  said  to  have  been  the  imminent  danger  his  master 
Anaxagoras  had  incurred  from  advancing  certain  philoso- 
phical tenets ;  yet,  notwithstanding  all  his  caution,  the  Poet 
did  not  escape  the  attacks  of  Athenian  sycophancy ;  many 
years  after  this,  the  celebrated  line  in  the  Hippolytus  in- 
volved him  in  a  charge  of  impiety,  viz. — 77  -yXoxTd'  opupofa 
T)  Sc  Qpriv  avuifjLorog ;  and  a  similar  instance  of  perversenesa 
in  imputing  to  the  Poet  himself  sentiments  which  belonged 


58  THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA. 

to  the  character  represented,  is  mentioned  by  Seneca; 
Euripides  had  put  into  the  mouth  of  Bellerophon,  (in  a  play 
so  called,)  a  glowing  eulogy  on  riches ;  the  audience  rose  in 
a  fury,  and  were  for  driving  the  actor  and  drama  from  the 
stage,  until  Euripides,  coming  forward,  begged  them  to 
wait  the  issue  of  the  piece,  when  the  panegyrizer  of  money 
would  meet  the  fate  he  deserved. 

Euripides  began  his  public  career  as  a  Dramatist  01.  81.2, 
B.C.  455,  in  the  twenty-fifth  year  of  his  age  ;  he  was  third 
with  a  play  entitled  Peliades.     In  01.  84.4,  B.C.  441,  he 
won  the  prize ;  in  01.  87.2,  B.C.  431,  he  was  third  with  the 
Medea,  Philoctetes,  Dictys,  and  Theristse,  a  Satyric  Drama; 
he  was  first  with  the  Hippolytus,   01.  88.1,  B.C.  428,  the 
year  of  Anaxagoras1  death ;  second,  01.  91.2,  B.C.   415, 
with  the  Paris,  Palamedes,  Troades,  and  Sisyphus ;  in  this 
contest  Xenocles  was  first :— it  was  in  this  year  the  disas- 
trous Sicilian  expedition  was  undertaken ;  two  years  after 
this  the  Athenians  sustained  the  total  loss  of  their  arma- 
ment before  Syracuse;  in  his  narration  of  this  disaster, 
Plutarch  tells  us  that  those  captives  who  could  repeat  any 
portion  of  the  works  of  Euripides,  were  kindly  treated, 
and  even  set  at  liberty ;   he  also  tells  us  that  Euripides 
honored  the  soldiers  who  had  fallen  in  the  siege,  with  a 
funeral  poem,  two  lines  of  which  he  has  preserved.     Tho 
Andromeda  was  exhibited  01.  92.1,  B.C.  412 — the  Orestes 
Ol.  93.1,  B.C.  408 ;  soon  after  this  the  Poet  retired  into 
Magnesia,  and  from  thence  into  Macedonia,  to  the  court 
of  Archelaus ;  envy  and  enmity'amongst  his  fellow-citizens, 
and  domestic  unhappiness  (having  divorced  his  first  wife, 
Melito,  for  adultery,  and  being  not  more  fortunate  in  his 
second,  Chserila)  are  assigned  as  the  reasons  of  his  self- 
exile; — perhaps,  also,  the  charge  of  impiety  mentioned 


THE   GRECIAN*   DRAMA.  59 

above,  had  some  share  In  producing  his  determination  to 
leave  Athens;  Socrates,  his  friend,  was  also  invited  by 
Archelaus  to  his  court.  In  Macedonia  he  composed  a  play 
in  honor  of  Archelaus.  and  called  it  by  his  name ;  Arche- 
laus was  so  pleased  with  his  abilities,  that  ho  appointed 
him  one  of  his  ministers ;  hi  Macedonia  also  he  composed 
the  Baccha^  his  death  took  place  01.  93.2,  B.C.  406,  in 
his  seventy-fifth*  year,  and  was  occasioned  by  an  attack 
which  some  ferocious  hounds  made  on  him ; — the  Athenians 
begged  his  body  from  Archelaus,  who  refused  the  request, 
and  he  was  buried  at  Pella,  with  every  demonstration  of 
grief  and  respect ;  a  cenotaph  was  erected  to  liis  memory 
at  Athens,  bearing  an  inscription  of  four  long  and  short 
verses.  Euripides  in  the  estimation  of  the  ancients,  cer- 
tainly held  a  rank  much  inferior  to  that  of  his  two  great 
rivals; — Aristophanes,  in  his  Ranse,  reproaches  him  for 
lowering  the  dignity  of  tragedy,  by  exhibiting  his  heroes 
as  whining  tattered  beggars,  by  introducing  the  vulgar  af- 
fairs of  ordinary  life,  by  the  sonorous  unmeaningness  of 
his  choral  odes,  the  meretricious  voluptuousness  of  his 
music,  the  feebleness  of  his  verses,  and  by  the  loquacity  of 
all  his  personages,  however  low  their  rank  or  unsuitable 
then1  character  might  be ; — he  laughs  at  the  monotonous 
construction  of  his  clumsy  prologues;  he  charges  his  dramas 
with  an  immoral  tendency,  (Sophocles  also  had  not  much 
opinion  of  the  moral  excellence  of  Euripides)  and  the  poet 

*  On  the  same  day  on  which  Dionysius  assumed  the  tyranny.  The 
story  of  his  death  is  certainly  a  fabrication,  for,  were  it  true,  Aris- 
tophanes in  the  Frogs,  would  have  alluded  to  it :  it  probably  arose 
from  confounding  his  death  with  that  of  Pentheus,  the  hero  of  the 
Bacchae,  the  last  piece  he  wrote,  who  was  torn  asunder  by  the  infuriated 
Bacchanals. 


60  THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA. 

himself  with  contempt  of  the  Gods,  and  a  fondness  for 
new-fangled  doctrines ;  he  jeers  his  affectation  of  rhetoric 
and  philosophy,  and  in  short,  regards  him  with  sovereign 
contempt. 

The  attachment  of  Socrates  and  the  admiration  of 
Archelaus  may  serve  as  a  counterpoise  to  the  insinuations 
of  Aristophanes  against  the  personal  character  of  Euripides; 
and  as  to  his  poetic  powers,  there  is  a  striking  diversity  of 
opinion  between  the  later  comedians  and  the  author  of  the 
Banse,  for  Menander  and  Philemon  held  him  in  high  esteem; 
yet  the  exact  Aristotle,  whilst  allowing  to  Euripides  a  pre- 
eminence in  the  excitement  of  sorrowful  emotion,  (calling 
his  TpayiKwraroG  TTOITJTWV,)  censures  the  general  arrange- 
ment of  his  pieces,  the  wanton  degradation  of  his  person- 
ages, and  the  unconnected  nature  of  his  choruses. 

Longinus,  like  Aristotle,  ascribes  to  him  great  power  in 
working  upon  the  feelings  by  depiction  of  love  and  mad- 
ness, but  he  classes  him  amongst  those  writers,  who,  far 
from  possessing  originality  of  talent,  strive  to  conceal  the 
real  meanness  of  their  conceptions,  and  to  assume  the  ap- 
pearance of  sublimity,  by  studied  composition  and  laboured 
language.  Euripides  is  charged  with  having  a  professed 
antipathy  to  women,  and  his  female  characters  are  unfa- 
vourably cast ;  his  sentiments  breath  the  air  of  the  schools, 
his  images  are  frequently  vulgar,  he  is  carping,  sour,  and 
disputatious. 

18.  From  the  decision  pronounced  by  Bacchus,  in  the 
Eanse  of  Aristophanes,  in  favor  of  ^schylus,  in  the  con- 
test between  him  and  Euripides  for  the  tragic  chair,  we 
may  conclude  that  though  we  have  few  remains  of  the 
Greek  Tragedy,  yet  they  are  the  remains  of  the  best  mas- 
ters ;  but  it  does  not  follow  that  they  are  the  best,  or 


THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA.  61 

amongst  the  best  performances  of  their  respective  authors; 
we  can  judge  but  in  part  from  so  small  a  proportion ;  and 
as  these  authors  were  in  the  habit  of  forming  their  Dramas 
upon  plots  that  were  a  continuation  of  the  same  story,  this 
circumstance  must  be  to  the  disadvantage  of  any  one  piece, 
that  happens  to  come  down  to  us  disjunctively,  as,  for  in- 
stance, the  Prometheus  of  ^Eschylus,  and  more  which 
might  be  named  amongst  the  remains  of  the  two  other  sur- 
viving Poets. 

19.  Comparison  of  the  three  great  Tragedians.  ^Eschylus 
is  a  bold,  nervous  writer,  his  imagination  fertile,  but  licen- 
tious ;  his  judgment  true,  but  ungoverned ;  his  genius  lively, 
but  uncultivated ;  his  sentiments  noble  and  sublime,  but 
wild  and  fantastic ;  his  plots  rude  and  inartificial ;  his 
scenes  unconnected,  and  ill-placed  ;  his  language  poignant 
and  expressive,  but  frequently  turgid,  obscure  and  bom- 
bastical ;  ,his  characters  strongly  marked,  but  wild  and 
fierce  ;  his  peculiar  excellency  was  in  raising  terror  and  as- 
tonishment, in  warm  and  descriptive  scenes  of  war  and 
slaughter ;  were  a  parallel  to  be  drawn  between  dramatic 
poetry  and  painting,  he  might  be  styled  the  Julio  Romano 
of  ancient  tragedy.  Sophocles  may  truly  be  called  the 
prince  of  ancient  dramatic  poets ;  his  fables  are  interest- 
ing and  well-chosen ;  his  plots  regular  and  well-conducted  ; 
his  sentiments  elegant,  noble,  and  sublime ;  his  incidents 
natural ;  his  diction  simple  ;  his  manners  and  characters 
striking,  equal,  and  unexceptionable;  his  choruses  well 
adapted  to  the  subject ;  his  moral  reflections  pertinent  and 
useful ;  his  numbers  sweet  and  harmonious  ;  the  warmth  of 
his  imagination  so  tempered  by  the  perfection  of  his  judg- 
ment, that  he  never  wanders  into  licentiousness,  nor  sinks 
into  coldness  and  insipidity ;  his  peculiar  excellence  lies  in 


62  THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA. 

the  descriptive ;  for  instance,  his  fine  description  of  the 
Pythian  games  in  the  Eleetra,  the  distress  of  Philoctetes 
in  Lemnos,  and  the  praises  of  Athens  in  the  OEdipus_ 
Coloneus ;  he  may  be  called  the  Raphael  of  the  Ancient 
Drama.  Euripides,  fortunately  for  himself  and  us,  is  come 
down  to  us  more  perfect  and  entire  than  either  of  the 
others;  his  fables  are  generally  interesting ;  plots  frequently 
irregular  and  artificial ;  characters  sometimes  unequal,  but 
generally  striking  and  well-contrasted ;  sentiments  fine,  just 
and  proper ;  diction  soft,  elegant  and  persuasive ;  abounds 
more  than  the  others  in  moral  reflections,  which,  not  being 
always  introduced  with  propriety,  give  some  of  his  trage- 
dies a  stiff  and  scholastic  appearance  ;  in  this,  however,  ho 
probably  complied  with  the  taste  of  his  age  and  the  wishes 
of  Socrates,  who  would  have  him  deviate  from  the  rigid 
rules  of  the  Drama,  to  make  it  subservient  to  the  purposes 
of  piety  and  virtue ;  and  there  is  also  in  his  dialogue  a  di- 
dactic and  argumentative  turn,  which  savours  strongly  of 
the  Socratic  disputant,  and  which  procured  him  the  name 
of  "  the  philosopher  of  the  theatre.""  Sophocles  painted 
men  as  they  ought  to  be,  and  Euripides  as  they  were  ;  the 
peculiar  excellency  of  Euripides  lies  in  the  tender  and  pa- 
thetic ;  his  choruses  are  remarkably  beautiful  and  poetical, 
they  do  not  always  naturally  arise  from  and  correspond 
with  the  incidents  of  the  Drama,  but  they  make  amends 
for  this  fault  by  the  harmony  of  their  numbers,  and  the 
moral  sentiments  they  contain.  On  the  whole,  though 
Euripides  had  not  so  sublime  a  genius  as  JEschylus,  or  so 
perfect  a  judgment  as  Sophocles,  he  wrote  more  to  the 
heart  than  either — he  may  be  called  the  Corregio  of  the 
Ancient  Drama.* 

•  If  we  compare  Tragedy  with  Sculpture,  JSschylus  is  the  Phidias 
of  Tragedy,  Sophocles  her  Polycletus,  Euripides  her  tysippus. 


THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA.  6£ 

20.  Besides  the  seven  tragedians  mentioned,  thirty -four 
others  have  been  recorded ;  a  few  may  be  noticed :  Eupho- 
rion,  son  of  ./Eschylus,  was  a  tragic  writer,  he  defeated  both 
Sophocles  and  Euripides,  01.  87,  B.C.  431,  probably  with 
one  of  his  Father's  Tragedies. 

21.  Aristeas,  and  Pratinas  his  father,  were  surpassed  by 
yEschylus  alone  in  writing  Satyric  Dramas.    Ion  was  not  only 
a  Tragedian,  but  a  lyric  poet  and  a  philosopher :  he  also 
wrote  elegies  and  dithyrambs. 

22.  Agathon,  a  friend  of  Euripides,   may  be  charged 
with  having  originated  the  decline  of  true  tragedy,  by  in- 
troducing choruses  between  the  acts  which  had  no  refer- 
ence whatever  to  the  circumstances  of  the  piece,  thus  in- 
fringing the  law  by  which  the  chorus  was  made  one  of  the 
actors:  he  also  wrote  pieces  with  fictitious  names,  a  transi- 
tion towards  the  new  comedy — something  between  it  and 
the  idyll. 

23.  Carcinus,  with  his  three  dwarfish  sons,  Xenocles, 
»  Xenotimus,  and  Deniotimus,  are  celebrated  for  introducing 

machinery  and  stage-shows,  especially  in  the  ascent  or  de- 
scent of  the  Gods. 

24.  lophon,  son  of  Sophocles,  was  the  best  tragic  poet 
at  the  time  the  Eanse  was  composed,  for  Sophocles,  Euri- 
pides and  Agathon  were  dead. 

25.  Euripides,  junior,  nephew  to  Euripides,  besides  his 
own,  exhibited  several  plays  of  his  uncle ;  to  him  is  as- 
cribed an  edition  of  Homer. 

26.  Sophocles,  grandson  of  the  great  tragedian,  exhi- 
bited the  CEdipus  Coloneus  of  his  grandfather;  01.  94, 
B.C.  401. 

27.  Under  the  Ptolemies  flourished  seven  tragic  Poets, 
called  the  Pleiades. 


THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA. 

28.  The  last  recorded  Greek  Tragedy  is  the  X/>«rroe 
a\wv,  in  the  fourth  century  after  the  Christian  sera— 

>ublished  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  .Eschylus  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  Persse.     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, ho  labours  to  express  it  in  the  rhythm  of  his  verse, 


THE   GRECIAN    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  synonyrnes.  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  dcminion, 
and  thus  in  his  mythology  he  differs  from  Homer,  who 
makes  Destiny  identical  with  the  will  of  Jove.  The  Cly- 
tsemnestra  of  ./Eschylus  (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  Clytseninestra  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  ./Eschylus  in  its  incidents  and 
catastrophe,  but  differing  in  the  delineation  of  particular 
characters;  his  Clytsemnestra  is  more  feminine  than  that  of 
^Eschylus,  he  omits  the  character  of  Cassandra,  and  in- 
troduces that  of  Electra. 

SO.  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  inate- 
riam  dedit  Homero,  ceteris  auteni  ille  omnibus  poetis." 
This  he  was  well  calculated  to  do,  from  his  energy  of 
thought  and  feeling,  richness  of  language  and  vividness  of 


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  sue- 
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  .ZEsehy- 
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  (juvorcrywyoe)  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  of  our  early 
dramatists  were  directed  to  subjects  derived  from  religion ; 


HIE    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  subordiuately  to  these  grand  events,  were 
the  subject  matter. 

o2.  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  anapaestic  measures  from  the  lonians ;  their 
chorus  moved  to  Dorian,  Lydian,  and  Phrygian  harmonies ; 
the  girdle  which  the  heroes  wore  on  tin-  stage  was  of  Per- 
sian origin ;  and  the  sandal  was  derived  from  Crete. 

34.  An  excuse  for  the  ampullie  and  scsquipedalia  verba 
of  yEschylus  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  ^Eschylus,  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  ^Eschylus  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  ai»To<7XESiaer/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 
./Eschylus,  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  Tim   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

and  Horace's  rule)  but  in  a  loss  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  charactelf^of  isolation  to  their  effusions. 
This  is  particularly  apparent  in  the  Iphigenia  in  Aulide, 
in  which  the  chorus  is  composed  of  women  of  Chalcis,  who 
had  crossed  over  to  the  opposite  coast  for  the  purpose  of 
viewing  the  Greek  Armament. 

41.  ^Eschylus  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  JBschylus  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 jEschylus  ;  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  \vritings  ;  those  of  Sparta  and  Thebes  were 
condemned  ;  Euripides  was  fifty  years  old  when  the  Pelo- 
ponnesian  war  began,  from  which  period  Athens  declined,  (L. 
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  Lacedaemonians. 

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  ./Eschylus,  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  JEschylus ;   thus 
we  see,  even  in  the  improved  Tragedy,  strong  marks  of  its 
tragi-comic  origin ;  the  true  praise  of  ^Eschylus,  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"1  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  A«£(c  -ytXot'a  of  its  satyric  origin,  conveyed  in  the 


72  THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

dancing  tetrameter: — JEschyltis,  taking  Homer  for  hia 
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  Xt'&e  7«Xota,  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  resemblance  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  ^Eschylus,  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  Trachinise  of  Sophocles,  the  voyage 
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  ^Eschylus,  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. 


71  THE   GRECIAN   DHAMA. 

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  avToa-^iaafjLara^  the  first  step  would 
probably  be  the  establishment  of  a  chorus,  and  the  intro- 
duction of  something  like  subject  and  composition  into  its 
songs  and  recitations ;  the  performers  no  longer  directed 
their  jests  against  each  other,  but  against  other  persons ; 
this  probably  was  the  sera  of  Susarion,  who  is  called  the 
inventor  of  Comedy  by  the  Arundel  marble ;  01.  5<i,  B.C. 
562 ;  he  never  wrote  any,  and  his  Kwju^Sta  could  have  been 
nothing  but  a  kind  of  rough  extemporal  farce,  into  which 
he  improved  the  Phallic  song.  If  Thespis  wrote,  written 
Tragedy  preceded  written  Comedy,  though  the  complexion 
of  the  original  drama  was  comic  in  the  most  extravagant 
degree :  when  Aristotle  says  that  the  Megarians  claimed 
the  invention  of  Comedy,  he  partly  alluded  to  Susarion, 
who  was,  according  to  some,  a  native  of  Tripodiscus,  in 
Megaris,  (to  others,  of  Icarius,  in  Attica,)  and  partly  to 
Epicharmus,  Syracuse  being  a  colony  of  Megaris.  Such 
was  Comedy  at  the  time  of  Thespis;  its  actors  a  band  of 
pea.sa.uts  smeared  with  wine  lees ;  its  stage  ev  village  green ; 


THE   GRECIAN*   DRAMA.  75 

but  now  the  improvements  in  the  sister-art  would  speedily 
extend  to  Comedy ;  it  became  an  object  of  attention  to 
poets,  who  possessing  more  wit  than  elevation  of  sentiment, 
preferred  this  lighter  species  of  composition  to  the  solemn 
grandeur  of  tragedy ;  interlocutors  were  introduced  with 
the  consequent  dialogue  ;  the  Iambic  metre  superseded  the 
Trochaic,  though  not  subjected  to  many  of  the  nicer  re- 
strictions of  the  Tragic  Senarius ;  masks  and  appropriate 
dresses  were  given  to  the  performers,  with  other  requisites, 
the  expenses  of  which  the  contending  poets  were  obliged  to 
defray  themselves,  since  it  was  long  before  the  magistrate 
would  allow  the  Comic  chorus  to  enjoy  the  privileges  of  the 
Tragic,  and  be  equipped  at  the  public  cost. 

2.  The  study  of  Homer's  Margites  gave  a  turn  and  tone 
to  Comedy,  (as  the  reading  of  his  Iliad  and  Odyssey  to 
Tragedy,)  by  substituting  ridicule  for  invective,    and  giving 
that  ridicule  a  dramatic  cast.     Epicharmus,   Phormis  and 
Dinolochus,  the  early  Sicilian  Comedians,  in  their  mytholo- 
gical Dramas,  adopted  ridicule,  but  Chionides,  Magnes,  &:c. 
the  first  Athenian  writers,  adhered  to  the  old  satyric  form, 
and  used  invective  ;   Crates  being  the  first  Athenian  who 
adopted  the  Margitic  style  and  subject. 

3.  The  Grecian  Comedy  was  threefold* — old,  middle  and 
new.     (1.)  In  the  old,  the  characters  were  real  and  living — 
they  were  satirized  personally,  and  by  name.      (2.)  The 
temporary  abolition  of  the  democracy  towards  the  con- 
clusion of  the  Peloponnesian  war,  was  quickly  followed  by 
a  law,  which   forbade  the  introduction   of  individuals  by 
name  as  personages  in  Comedy ;  the  Comic  Poets  therefore 

*  The  first  and  last  writers  of  the  old  Comedy  were  Epicharmus,  or 
Chionides,  and  Theopompus — of  the  middle,  Eubulus  and  Drome— of 
the  new,  Philippides  and  Posidippus. 


76  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

adopted  sometimes  the  old  Sicilian  style,  and  transformed 
the  mythologic  stories  of  antiquity  into  ludicrous  exhibi- 
tions ;  sometimes  they  parodied  the  pieces  of  the  tragedians  ; 
sometimes  ridiculed  the  philosophers ;  and  as  the  law  (which 
probably  was  passed  B.C.  440,  during  the  government  of 
the  thirty)  merely  forbade  the  introduction  of  any  indivi- 
dual on  the  stage  by  name  as  one  of  the  Dramatis  Personse, 
they  evaded  the  prohibition  by  suppressing  the  name,  and 
identifying  the  satirized  individual  by  means  of  the  mask, 
dress,  and  external  appearance  alone  ;  hence  in  the  middle 
Comedy,  the  characters  were  real,  names  fictitious;  the 
^Eolosicon  of  Aristophanes  was  composed  on  the  plan  of 
the  middle  Comedy ;  and  the  Ulysses  of  Cratinus — a  parody 
of  the  Odyssey :  the  chorus  was  withdrawn  from  the  mid- 
dle Comedy  (Hor.  A.  P.  280) — the  middle  Comedy  con- 
tinued for  about  fifty  years,  (3.)  The  new  Comedy  com- 
menced about  the  death  of  Alexander  the  Great,  and  con- 
cluded shortly  after  that  of  Menander.  If  it  had  not  the 
wit  and  fire  of  the  old  Comedy,  it  was  superior  to  it  in  de- 
licacy, regularity,  and  decorum ;  the  old  Comedy  drew  its 
subjects  from  public,  the  new  from  private  life ;  the  old 
often  took  its  Dramatis  Personae  from  the  generals,  orators, 
demagogues,  or  philosophers  of  the  day,  and  gave  them 
their  real  names ;  in  the  new,  both  characters  and  names 
were  fictitious  ;  the  old  was  made  up  of  personal  satire,  in 
the  new,  the  satire  was  aimed  at  the  abstract  vice,  not  at 
the  individual  offender ;  the  descriptions  of  the  old  were 
caricatures,  of  the  new,  accurate  portraits  of  men  and 
manners ;  and  as  such,  its  gaiety  was  often  interrupted  by 
scenes  of  a  grave  and  affecting  character;  the  writers  of  the 
new  not  only  declaimed  against  the  vice  and  immorality  of 
their  age,  but  ventured  on  truths  and  doctrines  in  religion 


THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA.  77 

totally  irreconcilable  to  the  popular  superstition  and  idolatry 
of  the  heathen  world ;  it  was  on  the  new  Comedy  of  tho 
Greeks,  that  the  Roman  writers  in  general  founded  theirs, 
and  this  in  the  way  of  translation,  Terence  having  tran- 
slated all  Menanders  plays,  which  are  said  to  have  been 
more  than  eighty. 

4.  Epicharmus,  the  Sicilian,  produced  the  first  Comedy 
properly  so  called — about  01.  70.1,  B.C.  500,  thirty-five 
years  after  Thespis  began  to  exhibit,  eleven  years  after 
Phrynichus  commenced,  and  just  before  the  appearance  of 
JEschylus ;  before  him,  Comedy  was  only  a  series  of  licentious 
songs  and  satiric  episodes,  without  plot  or  connexion ;  he 
gave  to  each  exhibition  one  single  and  unbroken  fable,  and 
converted  the  loose  interlocutions  into  regular  dialogue ; 
the  subjects  of  his  Comedies  were  (as  may  be  inferred  from 
the  extant  titles  of  thirty-five  of  them)  mythological ;  the 
woes  of  heroes  had,  a  few  years  before,  under  Phrynichus, 
become  the  favorite  theme  of  Tragedy ;  Epicharmus  was 
struck  with  the  idea  of  exciting  the  mirth  of  his  audience 
by  the  exhibition  of  some  ludicrous  matter  dressed  up  in 
all  the  grave  solemnity  of  the  newly-invented  art ;  and  thus 
he  composed  a  set  of  burlesque  dramas  on  the  usual  Tragic 
subjects;  they  succeeded,  and  the  turn  thus  given  to  Comedy 
long  continued  ;  so  that  when  it  returned  to  personality  and 
satire,  as  it  speedily  did,  Tragedy  and  Tragic  Poets  were 
the  constant  objects  of  its  parody  and  ridicule;  this  appears 
to  be  the  only  solution  of  the  curious  fact,  that  between 
the  personality  of  the  Phallic  song  at  the  one  end,  and  of 
the  Aristophanic  Drama  at  the  other,  there  intervened  a 
a  completely  different  species  of  Comedy,  viz. — the  Mytho- 
logical Comedy  of  Epichannus,  Phormis  and  Dinolochus. 
In  the  Amphitryo  of  Plautus,  we  have  an  imitation  of  one 


78  THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

of  the  Mythological  Plays  of  Epicharmus.  The  great 
changes  thus  effected  by  Epicharmus  justly  entitled  him  to 
be  called  the  inventor  of  Comedy.  He  excelled  in  the  choice 
and  collocation  of  Epithets,  on  which  account  the  name  of 
'E7nxa/°A«°e  was  given  to  his  style,  making  it  proverbial  for 
its  elegance  and  beauty.  Aristotle  blames  him  for  the  em- 
ployment of  false  antitheses;  Cicero  calls  him  "acutum  nee 
insulsum  hominem" — Plato  terms  him  "the  first  of  the 
Comic  writers" — Plautus  imitated  him  (Hor.  2  Ep.  2.,  58)  ; 
he  was  a  Philosopher  and  a  Pythagorean ;  there  were  not 
two  persons  of  the  same  name,  one  a  Comic  writer  and  the 
other  a  Philosopher,  as  some  supposed  ; — Epicharmus  was 
both.  Some  ascribe  to  him  the  invention  of  two  letters  of 
the  alphabet ;  his  Comedies  contained,  in  pithy  gnomse,  les- 
sons on  morality  and  politics  ;  we  find  him  still  exhibiting 
Comedies,  B.C.  477,  in  Hiero's  reign,  who  commenced  to 
reign  B.C.  478 ;  he  died  at  the  age  of  ninety*  or  ninety- 
seven. 

5.  Phormis-f-  was  tutor  to  the  sons  of  Gelon,  elder  bro- 
ther, and  predecessor  of  Hiero  ;  his  comedies  and  those  of 
Dinolochus,  another   Sicilian,    were    mythological ;     these 
three  used  the  Doric  dialect. 

6.  Chionides  was  the  first  Comic  writer  among  the  Athe- 
nians, 01.  73.2,  B.C.  487 :  his  Comedy,  as  appears  from  the 
names  of  three  which  are  recorded,  and  indeed  the  Attic 
comedy  from  its  origin,  was  personal  and  satirical.  Magnes, 
the  Athenian,  was  of  the  same  age  as  Chionides,   his  plays 
of  the  same  kind — in  his  old  age  his  services  were  forgotten, 
and  he  died  in  neglect  and  obscurity.     These  five  are  called 
the  Fathers  of  Comedy. 

*  Diogenes  Laertius  gives  the  former  number — Lucian  the  latter. 
f  Phormis  was  the  first  who  covered  the  stage  with  purple  skins. 


TUB   GRECIAN   DRAMA,  79 

7.  The  tlirce  great  writers  of  the  old  Comedy  are  C'ra- 
tinti.?,   Eupolis,  and  Aristophanes ;  mentioned  by  Horace. 
(1  Sat.  4.)  Quinctilian  recommends  the  old  Greek  Comedy, 
and  these  authors  in  particular,  as  the  best  model  (Homer 
only  excepted)  for  his  orator  to  form  himself  on,  as  it  is 
there  only  he  will  find  the  Attic  style  in  its  purity  and  per- 
fection.    The  first  play  (the  *Ap\i\oxoi)  of  Cratinus  (the 
eldest  of  the  three)  was  exhibited,  Ol.  83,  B.C.  448,  when 
he  was  seventy-one  years  of  age.      In  Ol.  85.1,  B.C.  440, 
a  decree  was  passed  by  the  magistracy,  prohibiting  the  ex- 
hibition  of  Comedy,  on   account   of  its   personality  and 
abuse  ;  but  this  law  continued  in  force  only  during  that  and 
the  t  wo  foil  owing  years,  being  repealed  in  the  Archonship  of 
Euthymenes  ;   and  Cratinus*  opened  the  theatre  with  his 
Xcijua^o/uEi'ot,  Eupolis  with  his  Noujuqviat,  and  Aristophanes 
with  his  'A\apvtiG  ;  being  ridiculed  by  Aristophanes  in  his 

flc,  Cratinus,  in  his  ninety-fifth  year,  brought  out  his 
),  or,  The  Flagon,  and  was  victor;  he  died, aged  ninety- 
seven,  B.C.  422  ;  he  got  the  name  of  <PiAo7ro-T}£,  from  his 
love  of  wine  ;  Hor.  "  Prisco  si  credis,"  &c.  1  Ep.  19.  Aris- 
tophanes humourously  ascribes  his  death  to  a  shock  on 
seeing  a  cask  of  wine  staved  and  lost.  The  character  of 
the  old  Comedy  is  well  defined  by  Aristophanes  in  his 
Ranse — TroXAa  /«£i/  yfXoTa  tiirtiv  TroXXa  SE  (rrrouSaTa. 

8.  Between   Cratinus   and   Eupolis,    two    other   Comic 
writers  intervened,  Crates  and  Phrynichus  ;  Crates,  origi- 
nally an  actor  in  the  plays  of  Cratinus,  and  the  great  rival 
of  Aristophanes'1  favorite  actors,  Callistratus  and  Philonides, 
was  the  first  Athenian  poet  who  abandoned  the  satiric  form 
of  Comedy,  and  made  use  of  invented  and  general  stories 

*  Cratinus  gained  the  second  prize,  Eupolis  the  third,  Aristophanes 
the  first. 


80  THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

or  fables ;  perhaps  the  decree  mentioned  above  had  some 
share  in  giving  his  plays  this  less  offensive  turn  ;  some  say 
he  was  the  first  who  introduced  a  drunken  character  on  the 
stage  ;  Aristotle  also  says  that  he  made  the  iambic  metre 
of  the  old  comedy  more  free  and  apposite  to  familiar 
dialogue.  The  names  of  ten  of  the  comedies  of  Phrynichus 
are  extant. 

9.  Eupolis,  nearly  of  the  same  age  with  Aristophanes, 
was  a  bold  and  severe  satirist  on  the  vices  of  his  day  ; — 
Persius  terms  him  "  iratum  ;"  he  attacked  Hyperbolus  the 
orator,    Autolycus  the    Areopagite — and    even    Cimon,* 
charging  him  with  partiality  for  the  Lacedaemonians,  and 
with  drunkenness ;   his  death  is   ascribed  to   Alcibiades, 
whom  he  had  lampooned,  and  who  is  said  to  have  had  him 
thrown   overboard   during  the   passage  of    the  Athenian 
armament  to  Sicily,  B.C.  415,  but  Cicero  shews  from  Era- 
tosthenes that  this  is  an  error,  as  Eupolis  composed  several 
Comedies  after  this  date;  his  tomb  was  erected  in  Sicyonia, 
which  makes  it  probable  he  died  there. 

10.  Aristophanes  was  the  son  of  Philippus,  an  Athenian; 
as  his  maiden   Comedy,   the   AcuraXtic,   was  represented 
B.C.  427,  and  when  he  was  under  thirty  (the  age  required 
by  law  in  those  who  were  allowed  a  Comic  chorus  by  the 
Archon) — and  therefore  brought  out  under  the  name  of  a 
friend,  Callistratus,  or,  as  some  say,  Philonides,  and  as  his 
'iTTTrtle,  performed  B.C.  424,  was  registered  in  his  own  name, 
taking  the  mean  between  these  two  dates  as  the  time  of 
his  attaining  thirty,  we  shall  have  B.C.  456,  as  the  year  of 
his  birth — and  as  his  last  play,  the  Plutus,  (which  is  a  spe- 

*  Eupolis  attacked  Hyperbolas  in  his  Magmai ;  Autolycus  in  his 
'AuroXvxof ;  in  his  A»x<$«/,«,ovs»,  Cimon,  who  called  his  son  Laccdaemo- 
nius ;  and  in  bis  'A<rrp<xrevroi,  Melanthius,  the  epicure. 


If  IE    GKEUAN    DRAMA.  81 

cimen  of  the  middle  Comedy)  was  performed  B.C.  388,  and 
he  lived  after  this  long  enough  to  compose  two  Comedies 
which  were  exhibited  under  the  name  of  his  son  Araros, 
his  death  may  be  fixed  at  B.C.  380,  which  would  make 
him  then  nearly  eighty  years  of  age ;  a  saying  of  Plato 
concerning  him  is  recorded,  which  Joe.  Scaliger  has  turned 
into  verse, 

"  Ut  templum  Charites,  quod  non  labatur,  haberent, 

Invenere  tuum  pectus,  Aristophanes." 

His  company  was  sought  after  by  Plato,  Socrates,  and 
Dionysius,  who  hi  vain  invited  him  to  his  court  at  a  time  when 
.flSschines  and  Aristippus,  Socratic  philosophers  were  there, 
and  when  Plato  solicited  his  notice  by  three  several  visits 
to  Syracuse  ;  even  the  King  of  Persia  considered  him  the 
most  conspicuous  personage  at  Athens.  The  only  immorality 
he  is  charged  with  is  intemperance  in  wine  ;  he  was  more 
temperate  in  invective  than  Cratinus  and  Eupolis;  he  never 
performed  himself,  as  the  comic  authors  then  did,  until  his 
favorite  actor  Callistratus  declined,  through  fear,  to  under- 
take the  part  of  Cleon  hi  his  personal  comedy  ';  The 
Knights,"  which  was  exhibited  the  very  year  Cleon  had  un- 
deservedly gained  so  much  glory  by  the  capture  of  the  Spar- 
tans in  Sphacteria  ;  Aristophanes*  himself  then  came  on  the 
stage,  and  was  completely  successful ;  Cleon  was  fined  five 
talents,  as  damages  for  the  charge  he  had  preferred  against 
Aristophanes  touching  his  right  of  citizenship  : — "  his 
'•  Acharnians"1  turns  on  the  evils  of  the  Peloponnesian 
war  ;  the  Sophists  felt  the  weight  of  his  lash  in  the  "  Nul 

*  As  no  one  could  be  found  bold  enousrh  to  make  a  mask  represent- 
ing the  features  of  Cleon,  Aristophanes  was  obliged  to  smear  his  face 
•with  wine-lees,  which  suited  well  as  a  substitute,  Cleon  being  a  great 
drunkard. 


82  THE   GKECIAN    DRAMA, 

though  this  had  nothing  to  say  to  the  accusation  brought 
against  Socrates,  as  it  was  acted  twenty-four  years  before 
his  trial,  and  Socrates  and  Aristophanes  were  excellent 
friends  after  it  was  performed ;  in  the  "Ranse"  he  discusses 
the  Drama,  and  attacks  Euripides ;  eleven  of  his  Comedies 
are  still  extant  out  of  upwards  of  sixty ;  they  are  valuable 
as  being  the  only  remains  of  the  Greek  Comedy,  and  are 
said  to  have  been  preserved  by  Chrysostom,  when  every 
other  comic  author  was  destroyed  by  his  Christian  contem- 
poraries :  his  Comedies  are  the  standard  of  Attic  writing 
in  its  purity,  as  it  was  spoken  by  Pericles ;  all  antiquity 
prefer  him  to  all  other  comic  authors,  except  Plutarch,  who 
prefers  Menander  ;  yet,  if  Plautus  gives  us  the  model  of 
Epicharmus,  and  if  Terence  translates  Menander,  Aris- 
tophanes excels  them  both.  He  is  remarkable  for  the  ver- 
satility of  his  genius,  his  style  being  elevated,  sublime, 
polished,  coarse,  &c.  &c.  to  suit  his  different  characters ;  in 
the  sublimity  of  some  of  his  choruses,  he  is  equal  to  JEs-' 
chylus  or  Pindar  ;  in  good  sense  to  Euripides ;  in  satire  to 
Juvenal ;  his  indelicacy  was  the  fault  of  his  audience,  who 
required  it,  not  his  own;  his  eleven  Comedies  are — the 
Acharnensians,  which  some  think  his  first,  01.  85,  when  the 
edict  was  reversed ;  The  Knights,  01.  88 ;  First  Clouds,  01. 

89.1  ;  Second  Clouds,  Ol.  89.2  ;  The  Wasps,  01.  89.2 ;  The 
Peace,  Ol.  90.4;  The  Lysistrata,  Ol.  91.1 ;   The  Birds,  01. 

91.2  ;  The  Cerealia  Celebrant es  and  Concionatrices,  01.  92; 
The  Frogs,  Ol.  93  ;  The  Plutus,  01.  97.4. 

11.  There  were  several  other  inferior  writers  of  the  old 
Comedy,  the  last  writer  of  which  was  Theopompus,  who 
flourished,  B.C.  386.  The  style  of  one  of  them,  Pherecrates, 
was  proverbially  dignified,  as  most  Attic,  and  his  metre  was 
called  by  pre-eminence  the  Pherecratian  metre. 


THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA.  83 

12.  There  were  thirty-four  Poets  of  the  middle  Comedy, 
the  principal  of  whom  are,  Alexis  of  Thurium.  (also  the 
birth-place  of  Herodotus)  uncle  of  Menander ;  Antiphanes, 
the  most  prolific  Greek  Dramatist,  having  composed  three 
hundred  and  sixty-five  plays ;  his  body  was  brought  from 
Chios  to  Athens,  and  buried  at  the  public  expense ;  and 
Anaxandrides.    who,  for  attacking    the   magistracy,   was 
starved  to  death. 

13.  The  principal  writers  of  the  new  Comedy  were  the 
following:  PhilmDJdes,  Timocles,  Philemon,  Menander,  Di- 
philus,  Aponodorus,  Posidippus.     Philippides  is  the  earliest 
wKfer  of  tlie  new  Comedy,  B.C.  335  ;  he  was  in  great  favor 
with  Lysimachus,  one  of  the  successors  of  Alexander,  and 
procured  from  him  many  benefits  for  the  Athenians ;  he 
died  from  excess  of  joy  on  obtaining  the  prize.     Timocles, 
was  contemporary  of  Demosthenes,   whom  he  accused  in 
one  of  his  plays  of  receiving  bribes  from  Harpalus,  the  un- 
faithful treasurer  of  Alexander.     Philemon,   the  rival  of 
Menander,  a  native  of  Syracuse,  or  Solse  in  Cilicia  ;    he  is 
acknowledged  by  Quinctilian  to  be  second  to  Menander, 
from  whom  he  frequently  gained  the  prize ;  he  is  praised  by 
Apuleius ;  died  at  the  age  of  101,  in  a  paroxysm  of  laughter 
(according  to  Lucian)  at  seeing  an  ass  devouring  some  figs 
intended  for  his  own  eating. 

Menander,  chief  of  the  new  Comedy,  born  at  Athens, 
B.C.  342.  son  of  Diopithes,  the  Athenian  General,  nephew  of 
Alexis,  educated  by  Theophrastus,  Aristotle's  successor ;  iu 
his  twenty-first  year  he  brought  out  his  first  drama,  the 
'0/077) — lived  twenty-nine  years  more,  being  drowned  in  the 
Piraeus,  at  the  age  of  fifty — having  composed  one  hundred 
and  five  plays.  All  antiquity  celebrate  him.  Terence  is 
called  by  Csesar  only  "dimidiatus  Menander;"  Plutarch  and 


84  THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

Dio  Chrysostom  prefer  him  to  Aristophanes ;  the  latter 
prefers  him  as  a  model  for  orators  to  the  old  comic  poets, 
on  account  of  his  art  in  delineating  character ;  Demetrius 
Phalereus,  Ovid  and  Quinctilian,  all  highly  commend  him 
for  the  same ;  Ptolemy,  son  of  Lagus,  corresponded  with 
him ;  and  yet,  out  of  one  hundred  and  five  plays,  he  only 
obtained  eight  prizes.  All  the  plays  of  Terence  are  tran- 
slated from  his,  except  the  Hecyra  and  Phormio,  which 
were  copied  from  Apollodorus. 

Diphilus,  a  native  of  Sinope  in  Pontus,  praised  by  Cle- 
mens Alexandrinus  and  Eusebius,  for  his  wit  and  the 
morality  of  his  Drama ;  Plautus  borrowed  his  Casina  from 
him.  Posidippus,  thf  last  of  the  Comic  Poets,  a  Mace- 
donian, did  not  begin  to  exhibit  till  three  years  after  Me- 
nander's  death,  B.C.  289.  Omitting  Timocles,  the  other  six 
were  selected  by  the  Ancient  Critics  as  the  models  of  the 
New  Comedy. 


CHAPTER  III. 


SECTION.  I. 
Dramatic  Contests. 

] .  THE  precise  time  at  which  the  contests  of  the  Drama 
commenced  is  uncertain.  The  Arundel  marble  would  make 
them  coeval  with  the  first  inventions  of  Thespis  ;  Plutarch 
not  till  some  years  after  the  early  Thespian  exhibitions  ;  the 
true  account  seems  to  be  this  : — the  contests  of  the  Dithy- 
rambic  and  Satyric  choruses  were  almost  contemporaneous 
with  their  origin ;  (those  of  the  former  continued  to  the 
latest  period  of  theatric  spectacle  in  Ancient  Greece  ;)  the 
improvements  of  Thespis,  for  a  time,  excited  admiration, 
rather  than  competition ;  soon,  however,  his  success  stimu- 
lated others  to  rival  the  originator  ;  a  regular  contest  had 
been  established  before  the  time  of  Phrynichus,  for  he  is 
first  mentioned  as  a  victor,  B.C.  oil,  twenty-five  years  after 
Thespis  ;  and  thirty-five  years  afterwards,  B.C.  476,  when 
he  won  the  prize  with  the  Phoenissa?,  the  tragic  contests 
were  carried  on  with  great  zeal,  as  Plutarch  tells  us  in  his 
life  of  Themistocles,  who  was  the  Choragus  of  Phrynichus. 
Under  yEschylus  and  his  successors  the  Theatrical  contests 
advanced  to  a  high  degree  of  importance ;  they  were  placed 
under  the  superintendence  of  the  Magistracy ;  the  repre- 


86  THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

sentations  were  given  with  every  advantage  of  stage  de- 
coration, and  the  expenses  defrayed  as  a  public  concern ; 
they  were  maintained  at  Athens  for  several  centuries,  long 
surviving  her  independence  and  grandeur,  even  to  the  time 
of  Julius  Caesar,  as  appears  by  a  decree  passed  by  the  Athe- 
nians in  favour  of  Hyrcanus,  high  priest  of  the  Jews,  and 
published  at  the  Dionysian  festivals — as  Josephus  records. 

2.  In  accordance  with  the  origin  of  the  Drama,  its  con- 
tests were  confined  to  the  Dionysia,  or  festivals  of  Bacchus, 
which  were  three  in  number,  and  took  place  in  the  spring 
months  of  the  Attic  year. 

(1).  Ta  KOT'  aypovg,  or  the  rural  Dionysia,  (perhaps  the 
I  same  as  the  'AmcwAm  and  Qtoirta)  held  in  the  country  towns 
and  villages  throughout  Attica  in  flotretSfwi/,  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  Aijjuoe  joined  in  the  solemnity — though  plays 
were  exhibited  at  this  festival,  prizes  were  not  contended 
for  at  it. 

(2).  Ta  Ajjvaia  or  ra  tv  Ai/Avcug,  so  called  from  Afytveu,  a 
4:  part  of  the  city  near  the  Acropolis,  in  which  was  a  sacred 
irtplfloXog,  or  enclosure  of  Bacchus,  called  Aijvatov,  from 
Aijvoe,  a  wine  press — this  festival  was  celebrated  on  the  1 1th, 
Ijtth,  and  13th  days  of  ' AvOtarripiuv,  the  8th  Attic  month, 
originally  called  Arjvotwv,  answering  to  part  of  February  and 


THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA.  87 

March — the  festival  itself  in  later  times  went  by  the  name 
of  TO  AvOsdrfipia  ;  each  day's  ceremonies  had  their  particu- 
lar name  ;  on  the  llth  was  the  niOoiyia.  the  broachings— -^ 
on  the  12th.  the  Xofe,  the  cups,  or  drinking-bout — on  the 
13th,  the  Xvrpot,  thejnesses  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  Lemea,  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 
Lenaea,  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  acrm.ra  KOT'  aorv,ra  aortica,  TO.  jueyaAa  Atovvcrm, 
or  simply  TO.  Atovvata — celebrated  between  the  8th  and 
18th  days  of  'EA'/^rj/SoAtwu,  the  9th  Attic  month,  answer-  ' 
ing  to  part  of  March  and  April ;  at  this  festival  there  was 
always  a  great  concourse  of  strangers  in  Athens,  for  these 
were  the  Dramatic  Olympia  of  Greece ;  hence 
reproaches  Demosthenes  with  being  too  vain  to 
be  content  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 ;  at  this  festival  the 
new  tragedies  were  brought  out,  and  the  great  annual 


88  THE   GRECIAN   DBAMA. 

contest  took  place.  The  Atovucrm  iv  UttpaitT^  mentioned  by 
Demosthenes,  appear  to  be  distinct  from  the  three  above- 
mentioned  ;  plays  were  performed  at  this  festival  also. 

3.  These  scenic  exhibitions  were  not  only  protected  by 
express  laws,  but  were  also  enjoined  in  every  oracular  direc- 
tion from  Delphi  or  Dodona ;  they  were  placed  under  the 
immediate  superintendence  of  the  first  magistrates  in  the 
state ;  those  at  the  great  Dionysia,  under  that  of  the  chief 
Archon,  and  those  at  the  Lensea  under  that  of  the  king 
Archon.     Demosthenes  also  mentions  a  certain  superin- 
tendent  or  superintendents,   in    the   Dionysian  contests, 
under  the  names  of  oywvofitrtjCj  and  tTn/utAnrTje ;  the  can- 
didates presented  their  pieces  to  the  presiding  Archon  ;  he 
selected  the  most  deserving  compositions,  and  assigned  to 
every  poet,  thus  deemed  worthy  of  admission  to  the  contest, 
three  actors  by  lot,  together  with  a  chorus  ;  the  successful 
poet  had  the  privilege  of  selecting  his  own  actors  for  the 
next  year's  Dionysia — the  Archon,  in  like  manner,  allotted 
the  musicians  in  the  \opbg  avAijrwv. 

4.  The  equipment  of  the  choruses  was  considered  a  pub- 
lic concern,  and  as  such,  like  the  fitting  out  of  triremes, 
and  the  other  \tiTovpyiai,   or  state-duties,  was  imposed  on 
the  wealthier  members  of  the  community. 

5.  The  "'Eirijj.eXrtral  of  each  tribe  selected  one  of  their  body 
to  bear  the  cost,  and  superintend  the  training  of  a  chorus ; 
this  individual  was  termed  \oprrfog,  his  office,  xppriyta — 
(this  appears  from  Demosthenes,  where  the  iTnjufATjrcu  of 
the  Pandionid  tribe  are  reprimanded  by  the  Archon  for 
not  providing  a  Choragus,  which  ought  to  have  been  done 
some  time  before   the   festival) — sometimes  the  choragic 
Aftrovpym  was  undertaken  voluntarily  by  a  public-spirited 
individual,  as  by  Demosthenes ;  whilst  some  of  the  Choragi 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  89 

provided  the  tragic  and  comic  choruses  at  the  two  Dionysia, 
the  others  furnished  the  remaining  choruses  —  the 


6.  No  one  could  legally  be  a  Choragus_pf  a  chorus  of 
boys,  unless  he  were  above  forty  years  of  agej  jvith  respect 
to  the  other  choruses,  the  age   required   in  the  several 
Choragi  is  not  known  ;  though  we  know  that  Demosthenes 
was  Choragus  to  the  \opog  avA»jTwi>  in  his  thirty-second 
year. 

No  foreigner  was  allowed  to  dance  in  the  choruses  of 
the  great  Dionysia  ;  if  any  Choragus  was  convicted  of  em- 
ploying one  in  his  chorus,  he  was  liable  to  a  fine  of  one 
thousand  drachmae,  yet  so  averse  were  the  Athenians  to  any 
interruption  in  their  theatrical  entertainments,  that  a  rival 
Choragus,  however  certain  he  might  be  that  a  competitor 
was  employing  a  foreigner  in  his  chorus,  was  forbidden, 
under  a  penalty,  to  stop  the  representation  of  the  suspected 
chorus;  this  law,  however,  did  not  extend  to  theLensea;  there 
the  MtrotKoi  might  also  be  choragi  ;  the  rival  choragi  were 
termed  avnyop-nyoi  ;  the  contending  dramatic  poets,  and 
the  composers  for  the  Cyclian  or  other  choruses,  avn&Sa<r- 
icaXot;  the  performers,  avTtrt%voi  : 

7.  The  following  order  was  observed  when  JEschylus  pro- 
duced his  Eumenides  ;  it  may  be  considered  as  a  specimen 
of  the  general  practice  :  having  determined  to  present  him- 
self as  a  candidate  for  the  Tragic  prize,  he  first  of  all  ap- 
plied to  the  chief  of  the  nine  Archons  for  a  chorus;    he  ob- 
tained one,  xopov  eAa/Be  ;  the  chorus  assigned  him  was  that 
which   Xenocles,   a   wealthy  individual,   had   engaged  as 
Choragus  of  his  tribe,  to  collect,  maintain  during  their 
training,  and  equip  for  the  stage  ;  he  then  proceeded  to 
train  (&SaoK£<»>)  this  chorus  for  his  four  plays,  the  Agamem- 


90  THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

non,  the  Choephoroe,  the  Eumenides,  and  the  Proteus,  a 
satyric  drama  ;  the  training  was  a  business  of  the  state, 
whose  judgment  in  such  matters  could  be  guided  only  by 
public  and  ocular  demonstrations,  regarded  as  the  most  es- 
sential part  of  a  Dramatic  Poet's  duty  ;  and  accordingly, 
the  prize  was  never  awarded  to  the  Poet,  as  such,  but  in- 
variably to  the  Teacher  of  the  chorus  (\ppov  SiSatncaAoc)  ; 
the  poet  was  said  x°P°v  atrclv,  the  Archon,  \opbv  Sovvat  ; 
the  primitive  meaning  of  StSaaxeii/  S/oa/xa  is  to  teach  a  play, 
i.  e.  to  the  actors  ;  because  the  Poet  instructed  them  how 
to  perform  their  parts  ;  hence  it  means  to  exhibit  a  play, 
hence  to  compose  one  ;  in  the  latter  sense,  the  Latins  use  the 
phrase,  "  docere  fabulam  :"  Hor.  A.  P.  288—"  Vel  qui 
prsetextas,  vel  qui  docuere  togatas,"  whether  they  have  com- 
posed Tragedies  or  Comedies  for  the  stage. 

8.  During  one  period  in  the  history  of  the  Athenian 
stage,  the  tragic  candidates  were  each  to  produce  three 
and  one   satyric  drama,  together  entitled  a 


Aoyt'a;  otherwise,  omitting  the  satyric  drama,  the  three 
tragedies  taken  by  themselves  were  called  a   rpiXoyta  ;  the 
earliest  tetralogy  on  record  is  that   of  ^Eschylus,  which 
contained  the  Persse,  B.C.  472  :  from  that  date  to  B.C. 
415,  a  space  of  fifty-seven  years,  we  have  frequent  notices 
of  tetralogies.     In  B.C.  415,  Euripides  represented  a  te- 
tralogy, one   of  the  dramas  in   which  was  the  Troades. 
After  this  time,  it  does  not  appear  from  any  ancient  testi- 
mony, whether  the  custom  was  continued  or  not  ;  indeed  it 
is  matter  of  great  doubt  whether  the  practice  was  at  any 
I  time  regular  and  indispensable  ;  Suidas  says  that  Sophocles 
£  &L  ^t\  broke  this  custom,  and  contended  with  single  plays  ;  some- 
•  I  times,  as  in  the  Oresteiad  of  ^schylus,  the  three  tragedies 
were  on  a  common  and  connected  subject;  in  general,  the 


THE   GRECIAN'    DRAMA.  91 

ease  was  otherwise.  It  is  a  commonly  received  opinion  that 
the  four  dramas  of  each  poet,  which  composed  the  tetralogy, 
were  always  performed  at  one  hearing,  in  one  day.  In 
this  case,  if  one  poet  only  produced  his  tetralogy,  there 
could  be  but  four  tragedies  ;  if  two,  there  must  be  eight  ; 
if  three,  twelve  ;  and  so  on  :  there  could  be  no  intermediate 
numbers.  Twining  thinks  there  was  but  one  tragedy  of 
each  poet  produced  at  each  festival.  The  principal  autho- 
rity in  this  matter  is  a  passage  from  Diogenes  Laertius, 
viz.  —  'EKIIVOI  (sc.  tragici),  rirpaoi  Spapaatv  T)-y(i>vi'£oi>ro} 
HavaOqvaioit;,  XvrpoiQ,  wv  TO 


./:        -•     V 


1 


%v  varvptKov,  TU  $t  TiTTapa  Spandrel  ticaAaro 
Here  are  four  festivals  and  four  dramas,  and  the  niostj  . 
obvious  meaning  of  the  passage  is,  that  each  poet  produced 
not  his  entire  tetralogy  at  the  same  festival,  but  one 
tragedy  only  at  each  festival.  This  supposition  seems  to 
be  rendered  probable  from  the  very  nature  of  the  rival 
exhibitions  ;  as  each  contending  poet  would  then  produce 
his  drama  at  the  same  hearing,  each  hearing  would  be  a 
distinct  day  of  contest,  and  there  would  be  at  each  contest 
a  sufficient  ground  of  judgment  on  the  comparative  merits 
of  each  performance.  The  Satyric  Drama  probably  closed 
the  entertainment  of  each  day. 

9.  The  Choragic  expenses  and  the  prizes  have  been 
spoken  of  before.  The  merits  of  the  candidates  were  de- 
cided by  judges  appointed  by  the  Archon  ;  their  number 
was  usually  five  ;  only  one  actual  prize  was  given.  When 
a  dramatist  is  said  Sivrtpata  or  rptVa  Xaj3«v,  it  is  only 
meant  that  he  was  second  or  third  in  merit,  without  anj 
reference  to  an  actual  prize.  In  the  case  of  the  Cyclian 
choruses,  any  injustice  or  partiality  in  the  judges  was 
punishable  by  fine  ;  and  not  without  reason,  if  we  may 


92  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

judge  from  the  incidental  complaints  still  extant.  Thus 
Demosthenes  accuses  his  enemy  Midias  of  destroying  the 
ornaments  he  had  provided  for  his  chorus,  of  bribing  their 
trainer,  bribing  the  Archon,  judges,  &c.  No  prize-drama 
was  allowed  to  be  exhibited  a  second  time  ;  but  an  unsuc- 
cessful piece,  after  being  retouched,  might  be  again  pre- 
sented. Thus  Aristophanes  exhibited  three  different 
editions  of  the  Nubes,  and  two  of  the  Plutus.  The  plays  of 
./Eschylus  were  exempted  by  a  special  decree  from  this 
regulation.  Afterwards,  the  same  privilege  was  extended 
to  those  of  Sophocles  and  Euripides ;  but  as  the  superiority 
of  these  three  great  masters  was  so  decided,  few  candidates 
could  be  found  to  enter  the  lists  against  their  reproduced 
tragedies  ;  a  law  was  consequently  passed,  forbidding  the 
future  exhibition  of  these  three  dramatists,  and  directing 
that  they  should  be  read  in  public  every  year. 

10.  The  whole  time  of  representation  was  portioned  out 
in  equal  spaces  to  the  several  competitors  by  means  of  a 
clepsydra ;  it  was  the  poet's  business,  therefore,  so  to  limit 
the  length  of  his  play,  as  not  to  occupy  in  the  acting  more 
I  than  the  time  allowed.  It  is  impossible  now  to  ascertain 
""the  average  number  of  pieces  produced  at  one  representa- 
tion ;  perhaps  from  ten  to  twelve  dramas  might  be  exhibited 
in  the  course  of  the  day._  If  each  tribe  furnished  but  one 
choragus,  and  not,  as  some  suppose,  one  for  each  different 
kind  of  contest,  the  number  of  tragic  candidates  could 
scarcely  have  exceeded  three ;  for  there  seem  never  to  have 
been  less  than  three  or  four  distinct  kinds  of  choruses  at 
the  great  Dionysian  festivals ;  which,  when  portioned  out 
amongst  the  ten  Choragi,  could  not  by  any  chance  allow 
of  more  than  three  or  four  Choragi  to  the  tragic  competi- 
tors; which  agrees  very  \vell  >vith  all  that  is  elsewhere 


1HK   GRECIA.V 

mentioned  on  this  head,  for  we  seldom  meet  with  more 
than  three  candidates  recorded,  and  probably  this  was  in 
general  the  whole  number  of  exhibitors.  Aristophanes, 
indeed,  had  on  one  occasion,  four  rival  comedians  to  oppose, 
but  this  was  at  the  Lensea,  when,  perhaps,  not  a  single 
tragedy  had  been  offered  for  representation  ;  and,  con- 
sequently, a  large  proportion  of  choruses  would  be  left 
disengaged  for  comic  candidates.  If  the  custom  of  con- 
tending with  tetralogies  was  retained,  since  there  were 
three  or  four  separate  hearings  in  each  day,  a  tetralogy 
would  occupy  each  hearing  ;  four  tetralogies  would  occupy 
from  twelve  to  sixteen  hours,  and  thus  probably  the  num- 
ber of  candidates  would  be  three  or  four. 

11.  We  may  see  a  reason  why  trilogies,  or  three  con- 
nected   plays,   were    performed  ;     we   have   thus,    thesis, 
synthesis,  and  antithesis.     There  is  still  extant  a  trilogy  of 
^schylus,  viz. — the  Agamemnon,  the  Choephoroi,  (or  as 
we  should  call  it,  Eleetra),  and  the  Eumenides.     The  sub- 
ject of  the  first,  is  the  murder  of  Agamemnon  by  Clyteem- 
nestra  ;    iu   the   second.    Orestes  avenges   his   father   by 
murdering  his  mother  ;   the  subject  of  the  third  is  the  trial 
and  acquittal  of  Orestes  ;   the  accusers,  the  advocates,  and 
the  presiding  judge,  are  Gods  ;  the  G'ourt,  the  Areopagus ; 
Pallas  throws   in  a  white  pebble  ;    the  black  and  white 
pebbles  are  equal ;   Orestes  is  acquitted  ;   Pallas  appeases 
the  Furies,  and  gives  them  a  sanctuary  in  Athens,  where 
they  are  to  be  called  Eumenides.     The  political  object  of 
this  play  is  to  exalt  Athens  and  the  Areopagus,  in  opposi- 
tion to  Ephialtes ;  this  trilogy  was  called  the  Orestia  of 
.ZEschylus. 

12.  As  the  Greek  plays  themselves  differed  essentially 
from  ours,  so  also  did  the  mode  of  their  representation. 


/:''•/„* 
• 


94«  THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA. 

We  have  theatrical  exhibitions  almost  every  evening  in  the 
year,  in  Greece  they  were  carried  on  for  a  few  days  only 
in  the  spring.  The  theatre  was  large  enough  to  contain 

r/  the  whole  population,  and  every  citizen  was  there,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  from  day-break  to  sunset :  and  the  torch- 

*  races  in  the  last  plays  of  a  trilogus,  seem  to  show  that  the 
exhibitions  were  not  over  till  dark.  With  us  a  successful 
play  is  repeated  night  after  night ;  in  Greece  the  most  suc- 
cessful dramas  were  seldom  repeated,  and  never  in  the 
same  year.  The  theatre  with  us  is  merely  a  place  of  public 
entertainment,  disconnected  with  and  opposed  to  true 
religion ;  in  Greece  it  was  the  temple  of  the  god,  whose 
altar  was  the  central  point  of  the  semicircle  of  seats,  from 
which  30,000  of  his  worshippers  gazed  upon  a  spectacle 
instituted  in  his  honor.  Our  theatrical  costumes  convey 
an  idea  of  the  dresses  worn  by  the  persons  represented, 
those  of  the  Greeks  were  but  modifications  of  the  festal 
robes  worn  in  the  Dionysian  processions.  The  modern 
dramatist  has  only  the  approbation  or  disapprobation  of 
his  audience  to  look  to,  whereas  no  Greek  play  was  pre- 
sented until  it  had  been  approved  by  a  Board  appointed  to 
decide  between  the  rival  dramatists. 


THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA.  95 

SECTION   II. 

A  ctors.  —  Cfiorus. 

Actors.  —  1.  In  the  origin  of  the  Drama,  the  members  of 
the  Chorus  were  the  only  performers.  Thespis,  who  was 
his  own  actor,  first  introduced  an  actor  distinct  from  the 
Chorus  ;  -Eschylus  added  a  second  ;  and  Sophocles  a  third 
actor,  and  this  continued  ever  after  to  be  the  *legitimate 
number  ;  hence,  when  three  characters  happened  to  be 
already  on  the  stage,  and  a  fourth  was  to  conie  on,  one 
of  the  three  was  obliged  to  retire,  change  his  dress,  and  so 
return  as  the  fourth  personage.  The  poet,  however,  might 
introduce  any  number  of  mutes,  as  guards,  attendants,  i:c. 
The  actors  were  called  un-oKpireu,  or  aytiworal  ;  viroKpivtaQai  • 
was  originally  to  answer,  hence  when  a  locutor  was  intro- 


duced who  answered  the  chorus,  he^  wa*s  called  6 


L- 


UTTOK 


the  answerer,  a  name  which  descended  to  the  more  nume- 
rous and  refined  actors  in  after  days.  Subsequently, 
6  VTTOK/OITTJC,  from  its  being  the  name  of  a  performer  assum- 
ing a  feigned  character  on  the  stage,  came  to  signify  a  man 
who  assumes  a  feigned  character  in  life,  a  hypocrite.  The 
three  actors  were  termed  Tr/aojrayamorjjc,  Sturfjocrytovior^c, 
T/5(ray(im<TTrjc,  respectively,  according  as  ea<;h  performed 
the  principal,  or  one  of  the  two  inferior  characters. 

2.  JEschylus,  in  some  of  his  plays,  as   the  Choephoroe, 
introduces  three  actors  at  once,  but  in  this  he  imitated 

*  Hor.  A. P.  192, "  Nee  quarta  loqui  persona  laboret ;"  the  reason  of  /  ^ 
this  was  to  limit  the  expenses  of  the  Choragus. 


96  THE   GRECIAN   L>RAMA. 

Sophocles  ;  on  one  occasion  in  the  Choephoroe,  there  seem 
to  be  no  less  than  four  speaking  actors  on  the  stage  at 
once — Clytsemnestra,  Orestes,  Pylades,  and  the  t^ayycXoc, 
or  extra-messenger  ;  but  the  extra-messenger  quits  the 
stage  at  v.  887,  changes  his  dress,  and  comes  on  again  as 
Pylades  at  v.  899.  So  also  the  actor  who  represents 
Ulysses  in  the  Rhesus,  leaves  the  stage  after  v.  626,  and 
returns  in  the  character  of  Paris  before  v.  642.  It  appears 
from  these  instances,  that  the  recitation  of  twelve  or  fifteen 
trimeter  iambics  allowed  an  actor  sufficient  time  to  retire, 
change  his  dress,  and  return.  To  the  law  of  three  actors 
only  on  the  stage  at  once,  there  appears  to  have  been  made 
an  exception  in  the  latter  period  of  Euripides,  in  favor  of 
children.  In  the  Andromache  of  Euripides,  v.  546,  Peleus 
enters  and  interrupts  a  conversation  between  Andromache, 
Molossus,  and  Menelaus ;  here  are  evidently  four  actors  on 
the  stage  at  the  same  time,  though  Molossus  does  not  open 
his  lips  after  the  entrance  of  Peleus.  As  the  same  actor 
cannot  perform  the  parts  of  a  child  and  of  a  full-grown 
person,  it  would  have  been  impossible,  if  the  indulgence  of 
which  we  are  speaking  had  not  been  allowed,  to  put  a  few 
words  into  the  mouth  of  a  child,  without  giving  up  the 
convenience  of  a  third  actor  for  the  adult  characters.  The 
only  other  Greek  Tragedies  in  which  children  speak,  are 
the  Medea  and  Alcestis  of  Euripides  ;  there  are  two  chil- 
dren in  the  Medea,  but  as  they  speak  from  behind  the 
scenes,  both  parts,  which  contain  only  four  lines,  might  be 
given  to  the  same  performer.  It  is  very  remarkable,  that 
the  Medea  and  Alcestis  are  the  only  plays  of  Euripides,  in 
which  a  third  actor  is  not  required  for  the  representation 
of  the  adult  characters  ;  the  contrivances  which  are  adopted 
in  most  cases  for  the  purpose  of  rendering  a  fourth  actor 


TUB    GREW  AX    DKA.MA.  97 

unnecessary,  are  applied  in  these  t\vo  pieces,  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  a  third  actor :  it  would  seem,  therefore,  that  the 
liberty  of  introducing  a  child  as  an  actor  extraordinary, 
had  not  been  established  when  Euripides  wrote  his  Medea 
and  his  Alcestis,  which  are  the  two  earliest  plays  of  his 
composition  which  have  been  preserved. 

3.  Dr.  BlomSeld  considers  the  word  laKtva,  which  occurs 
in  Hesychius,  to  be  images  dressed  up  as  soldiers,  sen-ants, 
<S:c.     It  is  better  to  interpret  it  as  living  mutes,  and  not 
dressed-up  figures. 

4.  The  actors  took  every  pains  to  attain  perfection  in 
their  art.     To  acquire  muscular  energy  and  pliancy,  they 
frequented  the  palaestra ;   and  to  give  strength  and  clear- 
ness to  their  voice,  they  observed  a  rigid  diet.     An  eminent 
performer  was  eagerly  sought  after,  and  liberally  rewarded. 
The   celebrated    Polus*   would  sometimes   gain   a   talent  ;  ( 
(nearly  dP200)  in  two  days.     The  other  states  of  Greece  I 
were  always  anxious  to  secure  the  best  Attic  performers  for 
their  own  festivals ;  they  engaged  them  long  beforehand, 
and  the  agreement  was  generally  accompanied  by  a  stipula- 
tion, that  the  actor,  in  case  he  fulfilled  not  the  contract, 
should  pay  a  certain  sum.     The  Athenians,  on  the  other 
hand,  punished  their  performers  with  a  heavy  fine,  if  they 
absented  themselves  during  the  city  festivals.    Eminence  in 
the  histrionic  profession  seems  to  have  been  held  in  con- 
siderable  estimation   in   Athens  at  least.      Players   were 
often  sent  as  the  representatives  of  the  republic  on  embas- 
sies and  deputations,  thus  the  actor  Anstodemus  was  sent 

"•     -       ~     "  -         n-      — — — •         •"  iJr 

on  an  embassy  to  Philip  of  Macedon ;  others  took  a  distin- 
guished part  in  the  assembly,  (in  earlier  times  .^Eschylus 

*  Polus  lived  in  the  days  of  Sophocles,  and  generally  acted  with 
Tlepolemu*. 


98 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 


-H 


thought  it  no  degradation  to  appear  on  tho  stage  as  an 
actor,  and  Sophocles*  more  than  once  played  subordinate 
characters  in  his  own  dramas,)  hence  they  became  conceited 
and  domineering — juet£ov  Svvavrai  (says  Aristotle)  TWI; 
TTOfrjrwv  ot  vTroK/oirai ;  they  were,  however,  as  a  body,  men 
of  worthless  character,  and  as  such,  were  regarded  with  an 
unfavourable  eye,  by  the  moralists  and  philosophers  of  that 
age ;  Aristotle  stigmatizes  the  players  of  his  day  as  ignor- 
ant, intemperate,  and  unworthy  of  a  respectable  man's 
company. 

5.  There  were  no  female  actors ;  the  female  characters 
were  performed  by  men,  inasmuch  as  the  female  carnage 
and  voice  would  not  have  been  adequate  to  the  energy 
which  belonged  to  the  tragic  heroines,  nor  to  the  vast  size 
of  the  theatre. 

6.  The  actors  were  generally  paid  by  the  state  ;  in  the 
country  exhibitions,  however,  two  actors  would  occasionally 
pay  the  wages  of  their  TpiTaywvicm'ig.  Demosth.  de  Corona, 
p.  345,  Bekker. 

Chorus-]-  1. — There  is  no  foundation  for  the  opinion  that 
the  Greek  Tragedy  was  divided  into  Acts  ;  for  (1)  no  an- 
cient writer,  who  quotes  from  the  plays,  mentions  the  act 
where  the  passage  is  to  be  found,  which  he  would  have  done, 
ad  there  been  any  such  division ;  (2)  the  word  act  docs 
not  once  occur  in  that  treatise  of  Aristotle,  which  gives 


*  According  to  some,  Sophocles  once  only  appeared  as  an  Actor, 
and  that  in  the  character  of  Thamyris,  playing  on  the  lyre. 

f  The  Chorus  was  the  personification    of  the  thought  inspired  by_ 
the  represented  action  ;  it  represented, first,  the  common  national  spirit, 
then,  the  universal  sympathy  of  mankind  ;  it  was,  in  a  word,  the  idealized 
spectator  ;  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  Sophocles  wrote  a  prose  work 
on  the  chorus. 


THE    GRECIAN    UKA.MA.  99 

so  exact  a  definition  of  every  part  of  the  Greek  Drama—- 
for the  word  fy>a//a,  which  we  translate  act,  signifies  the 
whole  performance,  and  not  any  one  particular  part  of  it ; 

(3)  the  office  of  the  chorus  was  not  to  divide  the  acts  by 
their  songs,  but  to  prevent  any  such  unnatural  pause  in  the 
drama,  as  the  division  into  acts  must  necessarily  produce ; 

(4)  the  tragedies  themselves  evidence  that  no  such  division 
was  thought  of  by  their  authors ;  for,  taking  the  word  act  in 
the  modern  sense  of  the  word,  we  find  it  sometimes  com- 
posed of  a  single  scene,  and  sometimes  of  half-a -dozen;  and 
if  the  songs  or  intermedes  of  the  chorus  are  to  determine 
the  number  of  acts,  the  play  will  not  always  consist  of  five, 
but  at  one  time  of  only  three,  and  at  another  of  seven   or 
eight ;  the  Ajax  of  Sophocles  has  five  songs  of  the  Chorus, 
the  Trachinise  six,  the  Electra  three,  and  the  Philoctetes 
but  one ;  nothing  can  be  more  absurd  than  to  make  these 
songs  dividers  of  the  acts,  when  the  chorus  sang  only  as 
occasion  offered,  and  the  circumstances  of  the  Drama  re- 
quired, which  accounts  for  the  irregularity  and  difference 
in  the  number  of  them  :  Horace,  indeed,  says,  "  Neve  minor, 
neu  sit  quinto  productior  actu,"1  but  the  Greek  and  Roman 
Drama  are  governed  by  very  different  laws ;  (5)  the  old  edi- 
tions of  the  Greek  Tragedies,  so  far  from  dividing  them 
into  acts,  do  not  so  much  as  make  the  least  separation  of 
the  scenes  :  even  the  names  of  the  persons  are  not  always 
properly  affixed  to  the  speeches,  no  notice  is  taken  of  the 
entrances  and  exits  of  the   actors,  the   asides  are   never 
marked,  nor  any  of  the  gestures  and  actions,  which  fre- 
quently occur,  pointed  out  to  us  in  the  margin  :  it  is,  on  the 
whole,  plain,  that  the  Ancient  Greek  Tragedy  was  one  con- 
tinued representation  from  beginning  to  end. 

2.  The  parts  of  Tragedy,  with  respect  to  quantity,  are, 


'I  ii,:    GRECIAN    DKA.MA, 

according  to  Aristotle,  Prologue,  Episode,  Exodc,  and 
Chorus — tho  first  three  are  the  beginning,  middle,  and  end; 
the  cause  and  design  of  undertaking  any  action  are  the 
beginning ;  the  effects  of  those  causes,  and  the  difficulties 
we  find  in  the  execution  of  that  design,  are  the  middle;  tho 
unravelling  an;l  resolving  those  difficulties  are  the  end. 

'3.  The  Prologue  of  tragedy  was  not  unlike  the  irpoav\iov, 
or  overture  in  music,  or  the  prooemium  in  oratory,  contain- 
ing all  that  part  of  the  Drama,  which  preceded  the  Parody 
~M  or  first  song  of  the  whole  chorus;  by  the  Parode,  Aristotle 
i  must  mean,  not  the  first  speech  of  the  whole  chorus,  for 
the  whole  chorus  never  spoke,  but  sung,  the  Coryphaeus 
always  speaking  for  them ;  nor  the  first  entrance  of  the 
whole  chorus,  for  there  are  tragedies  (as  the  Persse  and 
Suppliants  of  JEschylus)  where  the  chorus  enters  first  on 
the  stage  and  opens  the  play ;   to  such,  therefore,  if  Aris- 
totle meant  the  speaking  or  entrance,  and  not  the  song, 
there   would  be   no   Prologue,   a   contradiction   which   is 
avoided  by  understanding  the  Parode  to  mean  the  first 
song,  which  never  begins  till  the  Prologue  is  over,  and  mat- 
ter  furnished  to  the   chorus  for  the   intermede.      What 
Aristotle  calls  the  Prologue,  should  contain,  according  to 
the  ancient  critics,  all  those  circumstances  which  are  neces- 
sary to  be  known  for  the  better  understanding  of  the  whole 
Drama ;  as  the  place  of  the  scene,  tho   time  when  the  ac- 
tion commences,  the  names  and  characters  of  the  persons 
concerned,  together  with  such  an  insight  into  the  plot  as 
might  awaken  the  curiosity  of  the  spectator,  without  letting 
him   too  far  into   the  design  and   conduct  of  it ;    hence 
Aristotle  called  it   oayjuo  Aoyou — the  introduction  of  tho 
fable;  it  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  the  Prologus  of  the 
Latin   Comedy,  which  was  an  address  of  the  Poet  to  the 
audience,  and  did  not  form  a  part  of  the  play. 


THE    GRECIAN'    DRAMA.  101 

Sophocles  alone  succeeded  in  the  Prologue;  those  of 
JEschylus  are  rude  and  inartificial,  those  of  Euripides,  te- 
dious and  confused ;  the  Prologues  of  both  are  often  em- 
ployed in  absurd  addresses  to  the  spectators,  or  in  the  rela- 
tion of  things  extremely  foreign  to  the  purpose  of  the 
Drama,  frequently  anticipating  the  incidents  of  the  play, 
and  even  sometimes  acquainting  the  audience  beforehand 
with  the  catastrophe  ;  all  of  them  capital  errors,  which  the 
superior  judgment  of  Sophocles  taught  him  carefully  to 
avoid. 

4.  The ' ETTiuroSiov  or  Episode,  so  called  from  the  entrance 
on  the  stage  of  an  actor  in  addition  to  the  choruses  all  that 
part  which  is  included  between  entire  choral  odes — between 
the  first  and  last  ode ;  the  Episodes  properly  comprehend 
all  the  action  or  drama,  introduced  at  first  by  way  of  relief, 
between  the  choric  songs,  to  which  were  added  the  irpoXoyog 
for  an  introduction,  and  the  K£oSoe  for  a  conclusion  ;  hence 
the  Latins  called  them  actus ;  they  answer  to  our  second, 
third,  and  fourth  acts,  and  comprehend  all  the  intrigue  or 
plot  to  the  unravelling  or  catastrophe,  which  in  the  best 
ancient  writers  is  not  made  till  after  the  last  song  of  the 
chorus ;  this  rule,  Sophocles,  the  most  correct  of  the  three 
great  Tragedians,  has  observed  in  all  his  plays  but  two,  viz. 
the  Ajax  and  (Edipus  Tyrannus ;  for,  if  the  death  of  Ajax 
be  the  catastrophe  of  that  tragedy,  it  is  over  long  before 
the  last  song  of  the  chorus  ;  if  the  leave  granted  to  bury 
him  be  the  catastrophe,  the  Episode  is  confined  within  its 
proper  limits,  but  this  cannot  be  allowed  without  attri- 
buting to  this  piece,  what  is  a  still  greater  blemish,  a  du- 
plicity of  action ;  in  the  CEdipus  Tyrannus,  the  total  dis- 
covery of  (Edipus's  guilt  is  made  before  the  last  song  of  the 
chorus,  and  becomes  the  subject  of  the  intermede.  The 


102  THE   GRECIAN   DHAMA. 

conduct  and  disposition  of  the  Episode  is  the  surest  test  of 
the  Poet's  abilities,  as  it  generally  determines  the  merit, 
and  decides  the  fate  of  the  Drama ;  here  all  the  art  of  the 
writer  is  necessary  to  stop  the  otherwise  too  rapid  progress 
of  his  fable,  by  the  intervention  of  some  new  circumstance 
that  involves  the  persons  concerned  in  fresh  difficulties, 
awakens  the  attention  of  the  spectators,  and  leads  them,  as 
it  were  insensibly,  to  the  most  natural  conclusion  and  un- 
ravelling of  the  whole. 

5.  JThe  Exode  is  all  that  part  which  is  recited  after  the 
chorus  has  left  off  singing — which  has  no  choral  ode  after  it ; 
it  answers  to  our  fifth  act,  and  contains  the  unravelling  or 
catastrophe,  after  which,  any  song  of  the  chorus  would  only 
be  unnecessary,  because  what  is  said,  when  the  action  is 
finished,   cannot  be  too   short.     The  actors  and  chorus 
marched  off  to  a  certain  tune,  E^oSiot  vo/uot. 

6.  The  Chorus,  an  essential  part  of  the  ancient  tragedy, 
has  not  been  adopted  in  the  modern  ;  it  gave  the  first  hint 
to  the  formation  of  tragedy,  was  once  the  sole  matter  of 
exhibition,  was  venerated  by  the  multitude  as  a  religious 
ceremony,   and   was   therefore   incorporated  by  the   first 
authors  of  the  Drama  into  the  body  of  tragedy,  from  a 
desire  to  give  way  to  popular  prejudices ;  the  following  are 
the  arguments  in  its  favour : 

(1)  The  ancients  thought  it  improbable  that  any  great 
and  important  action  should  be  performed  without  wit- 
nesses; their  choruses  were  therefore  composed  of  such 
persons  as  most  naturally  might  be  supposed  present  on 
the  occasion,  persons  who  might  feel  an  interest  in  the 
events  of  the  fable,  and  yet  be  not  so  deeply  concerned  as 
to  make  them  incapable  of  performing  their  proper  office, 
viz.,  the  giving  advice  and  making  proper  reflections  on  every 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  103 

thing  that  occurred  in  the  course  of  the  drama ;  for  thi» 
purpose,  a  Coryphaeus,  or  leader,  directed  the  rest,  spoke 
for  the  whole  body  in  the  dialogue  part,  and  led  the  songs 
and  dances  in  the  intermede ;  the  Chorus,  thus  interposing 
and  bearing  a  part  in  the  progress  of  the  action,  gives  the 
representation  that  probability  and  striking  resemblance  of 
real  life,  the  want  of  which  is  felt  on  our  stage ;  as  in- 
stances of  the  above,  it  may  be  remarked  that  in  the  Ajax 
of  Sophocles,  the  chorus  is  composed  of  the  men  of  Salamis, 
his  countrymen  and  companions ;  in  the  Electra,  of  the 
ladies  of  Mycenae,  her  friends  and  attendants  ;  in  the  Phi- 
loctetes,  of  the  companions  of  Ulysses  and  Neoptolemus. 
(2)  By  the  introduction  of  a  chorus,  which  bore  a  part  in 
the  action,  the  ancients  avoided  the  absurdity  of  monologues 
and  soliloquies,  into  which  the  moderns  have  fallen;  also  that 
miserable  resource  of  distressed  poets,  the  insipid  race  of 
confidants,  a  refinement  for  which  we  are  indebted  to  the 
French  Theatre.  (3)  The  great  use  of  the  Chorus  was  in 
delivering  moral  and  philosophical  precepts ;  in  the  golden 
ages  of  tragedy,  the  stage  was  almost  the  only  vehicle  of 
instruction ;  Socrates  is  supposed  to  have  delivered  many  of 
his  precepts  by  the  mouth  of  Euripides ;  hence  Euripides 
is  called  the  stage-philosopher,  and  many  of  his  plays  were 
ascribed  to  Socrates,  as  those  of  Terence  to  Laelius  and 
Scipio ;  the  ancients  considered  that  the  principal  charac- 
ters were  too  deeply  interested  and  too  busy  in  prosecuting 
their  several  designs,  to  be  at  leisure  to  make  moral  reflec- 
tions, they  therefore,  very  judiciously  put  them  into  the 
mouth  of  the  chorus ;  thus  they  also  prevented  the  illiter- 
ate part  of  the  audience  from  drawing  false  conclusions 
from  the  incidents  of  the  Drama,  the  poet  leading  the  n 
insensibly  into  such  sentiments  and  affections  and  truths,  as 


104-  THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

he  desired  to  excite  and  inculcate  ;  that  they  occasionally 
fell  into  those  mistakes  is  evident  from  the  case  of  Euripides 
mentioned  before.  (4)  Another  office  of  the  chorus  was  to 
relieve  and  amuse  the  spectator,  during  the  intervals  of  the 
action,  by  an  ode  or  song  adapted  to  the  occasion,  naturally 
arising  from  the  incidents,  and  connected  with  the  subject 
of  the  Drama  (this  connexion  Sophocles  observed,  much 
better  than  ^Eschylus  or  Euripides)  ;  to  this  part  of  the  an- 
cient chorus  we  are  indebted  for  some  of  the  noblest  flights 
of  poetry,  as  well  as  the  finest  sentiments  that  adorn  the 
writings  of  the  Greek  Tragedians.  (5)  The  Chorus  pre- 
served the  unities  of  action,  time,  and  place;  they  con- 
tinued on  the  stage  during  the  whole  performance,  except 
when  some  very  extraordinary  circumstance  required  their 
absence  ;  (thus  in  the  Ajax,  the  chorus  leave  the  stage  in 
search  of  Ajax,  and  so  give  him  an  opportunity  of  killing 
himself  in  the  very  spot  which  they  had  quitted,  which 
could  not  have  been  done  with  any  propriety  whilst  they 
were  present  and  able  to  prevent  it;)  this  obliged  the  poet 
to  a  continuity  of  action  and  place,  as  the  chorus  could  not 
have  any  excuse  for  remaining  on  the  spot,  when  the  affair 
which  called  them  together  was  at  an  end,  and  must  remain 
there,  till  it  was  concluded  ;  it  also  preserved  the  unity  of 
time,  for  if  the  Poet  had  comprehended  in  his  play  a  month, 
a  week,  or  a  year,  how  could  the  spectators  be  made  to 
believe,  that  the  people,  who  were  before  them,  could  havo 
passed  so  long  a  time  without  eating,  drinking,  or  sleeping! 
(6)  The  chorus  presided  over  and  directed  the  music  ;  (7) 
it  made  a  part  of  the  decoration ;  the  splendor  of  the 
dresses,  the  music,  dancing,  and  poetry,  formed  a  spectacle, 
peculiarly  gratifying  to  the  eye,  ear,  and  intellect  of  an 
Attic  audience ;  (8)  it  pervaded  and  animated  the  whole, 


THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA.  105 

rendered  the  poem  more  regular,  more  probable,  more  pa- 
thetic, more  noble  and  magnificent ;  it  was  the  great  chain, 
which  held  together  and  strengthened  the  several  parts  of 
the  Drama,  which,  without  it,  could  only  have  exhibited  a 
lifeless  and  uninteresting  scene  of  irregularity,  darkness 
and  confusion. 

7.  The  number  of  xnptv-al  was  probably  at  first  inde- 
terminate ;  jJEschylus,  we  are  told,  brought  no  less  than 
fifty  into  his  Eumenides,  but  was  obliged  to  reduce  them  to 
twelve ;   Sophocles  was  afterwards  permitted  to  add  three  ; 
and  according  to  Pollux,  the  number  was  then  fixed  by  law 
at  fifteen  in  tragedy  and  twenty- four  in  comedy.     M tiller's 
hypothesis  is  the  following  : — "  The  Tragic  chorus  was  de-  , 
rived  from  the  Dithyrambic,  which  consisted  of  fifty  per- 
sons ;  this  being  the  case,  it  is  natural  to  suppose  that  the 
Choragus  furnished  the  same  number  of  dancers  for  the 
Tragic  chorus,  as  he  had  previously  for  the  Dithyrambic, 
and  that  the  distribution  of  these  fifty  persons  into  the 
component  choruses  of  the  tetralogy  (viz.   twelve  or  fifteen) 
was  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  Poet.     In  this  case,    the 
well-known  statement  of  Pollux,  that  the  Chorus  of  the 
Eumenides  consisted  of  fifty,  may  still  be  defended,   if  we 
suppose  the  fifty  to  belong  to  the  whole  tetralogy,  of  which 
number,  at  least  three-fourths  were  on  the  stage  at  the  end 
of  the  Eumenides ;  still,  however,  the  number  fifty  requires 
some  modification  ;  the  Dithyrambio  chorus  was  Cyclic,  and 
sang  the  Dithyramb  in  a  circle  about  the  altar,  passing 
round  it,  first  in  one  direction,  then  in  the  other ;   but  the 
Tragic,  as  well  as  the  Comic  and  Satyric  Chorus,  was  qua- 
drangular, TfT-joa-ywvoe.     Now,  a  quadrangular  chorus  is  one 
that  is  divided  into  rank  (£070),  and  file  (aT-oi^oi),  so  as  to 
form  a  quadrangle — its  number  therefore  must  be  always  3 


106  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

composite  number,  as  3x4=12,  3x5=15  ;  but  as  it  ap- 
pears that  the  component  numbers  are  never  so  far  apart 
that  the  one  is  double  of  the  other,  (3x4  or  3x5  is  the 
Tragic,  4  x  6  is  the  Comic  Chorus,)  it  is  not  probable  that 
there  should  be  a  quadrangular  chorus  of  5  X  10.  If  the 
tragic  chorus  of  earlier  times  came  on  the  stage,  as  an  un- 
divided whole,  it  is  much  more  probable  that  its  number 
was  forty-eight,  6x8;  now  an  equal  division  of  this  chorus 
of  forty-eight  gives  twelve  Choreutse  for  each  of  the  four 
plays  ;  twelve,  therefore,  recommends  itself  as  the  probable 
number  originally  employed  by  -#Cschylus ;  moreover,  twelve 
is  just  half  the  number  of  the  Comic  Chorus,  for  which, 
owing  to  the  far  less  encouragement  given  by  the  state  to 
Comedy,  half  as  many  persons  were  deemed  sufficient,  as 
were  required  for  the  collective  chorus  of  a  Tragic  Tetralogy; 
the  original  number  of  Choreutse  in  each  tragedy  cannot 
have  been  fifteen,  because  in  that  case,  either  the  collective 
chorus  must  have  extended  beyond  fifty,  which  its  close 
connexion  with  the  Dithyrambic  chorus  forbids  us  to  sup- 
pose, or  there  would  be  only  five  left  for  the  Satyric  Drama, 
which  would  be  too  small  a  number  for  a  festive  chorus,  and 
far  too  scanty  a  representation  of  the  merry  crew  of  Bac- 
chus. 

8.  The  situation  assigned  to  the  Chorus  was  the  orches- 
tra, which  the  Choristers  entered,  preceded  by  a  player  on 
the  flute,  who  regulated  their  steps,  sometimes  in  single  file, 
more  frequently  five  or  four  in  front  and  three  in  depth, 
(nara  £vya,)  or  vice  versa,  (icara  aroi'xpvg,')  in  tragedy,  and 
4  x  6  or  6x4  in  Comedy ;  its  first  entrance  was  called 
TrapoSoe,  which  probably  made  one  of  the  most  splendid  and 
popular  parts  of  the  &//<?,  or  show  of  the  ancient  tragedy ; 
there  are  not  more  than  four  or  five  Tragedies,  in  which 


TTIE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  10? 

the  chorus  is  present  from  the  beginning.  The  term  irapoSoQ 
is  also,  and  more  correctly,  applied  to  the  ode  sung  by  the 
chorus  on  its  entrance  ;  its  occasional  departure^was  called^  f 
LtCTafaoracrtc,  its  return,  ETiTropocof.  its  final  exit,  a^»oe/0£. 

9.  The  Chorus  always  took  a  part  in  the  action  of  the 
drama,  joining  in  the  dialogue,  through  the  medium  of  its 
KO/3U(£atoe,  or  leader;  thus  according  to  Aristotle  and  Horace, 
the  chorus  was  considered  as  one  of  the  actors  :  —  icat  TOV 
yopbv  Si  tva  Ssi  VTToXajSav  TGJV  VTTOKpiTwv  KOI  popiov  tivai 
TOV  6Aou,  Kai  <rvvay<i)vi%iaOai,  (Arist.)  and  Horace  defines 
its  duties.  A.  P.  193. 

u  Actons  partes  Chorus,  officiumque  -virile 
Defendat  :  neu  quid  medios  intercinat  actus, 
Quod  non  proposito  conducat,  et  haereat  apte. 
Ille  bonis  faveatque,  et  consilietur  amice'  : 
Et  regat  iratos,  et  amet  peccare  timentes. 
Ille  dapes  laudet  mensae  brevis  ;  ille  salubrem 
Justitiam,  legesque,  et  apertis  otia  portis  — 
Ille  tegat  commissa,  deosque  precetur  et  oret, 
Ut  redeat  raiseris,  abeat  Fortuna  superbis." 

The  director  (^fjuwv)  of  the  Chorus  was  he  who  super- 
intended the  melody  and  the  corresponding  attitudes  ;  the 
fjLt<joxopoQ  was  that  member  of  the  groupe  who  acted  in 
immediate  subordination  to  the  Kopu^aloe,  and  who  sus- 
tained the  response  with  him,  when  the  division  took  place 
into  rifju-^opia. 

The  Chorus  frequently  contributed  to  the  progress  of  the 
action,  by  active  offices  of  friendly  attention  and  assistance, 
for  example  —  in  the  Philoctetes  and  Ajax  of  Sophocles. 
Sometirnes^again,  the  Chorus  was  divided  into  two*  groups, 
(this  division  was  called  Sixopia,  each  hah",  ijjuixo/otov,  and 


*  We  meet  in  Plutarch  with  a  tripartite  division  of  the  chorus  (»?  »x«p»' 


103  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

their  responsive  songs,  avnxdpia,)  each  with  a  Coryphaeus 
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 
vvoKoXiria ;  to  guide  the  movements  of  the  Grot^oi,  lines, 
called  ypafjifjLcii,  were  marked  out   along  the  floor  of  the 
orchestra  ;  the  person,  who  arranged  the  choristers  in  their 
proper  places,  was  called   x°P°^KT^>  or  ^OJOOTTOIOC;   the 
trainer  of  the  Chorus,  was  called  \opoS itaaKaXos — the  first 
tragic  Poets  were  their  own  xo/>oS<Sa<mi/\oi;  thus  .ZEschylus 
taught  his  chorus  figure-dances. 

11.  Whilst*  engaged  in  singing  the  choral  odes  to  the 
accompaniment   of  flutes,  the  performers  moved  through 
dances  according  with  the  measure  of  the  music,  passing, 

y_  j  during  the  strophe,  across   the  orchestra,  from  right  to 

left,  during  the  antistrophe,  back,  from  left  to  right,   and 

"-/[stopping,  at  the  Epode,   in  front  of  the   spectators;  some 

/  -Si  writers  attribute  the  original  of  these  evolutions  to  a  mvs- 

f-ff-<nfie^ff  I  «= J 

j    Iterious  imitation  of  the  motion  of  the  heavens,   stars  and 

^.i  f"*^"*"*  I  '-         -"    -    n   ~ "*  **"     *'       '  '     ""       '       >~  '    "  ---'.-I-- 

Iplanets^  it  does  not  appear  that  they  confined  themselves 
to  any  strict  rules,  with  regard  to  the  division  of  strophe, 
antistrophe,  and  epode,  as  we  find  the  choral  songs  consist- 


*  Ancient  Tragedy,  on  account  of  its  music  and  dance,  has  been 
compared  to  our  Opera,  but  wrongly  :  in  Tragedy,  the  poetry  was  the]. 
fi^.      I  main  affair,  the  mu-ic  and  dnnce  beini.'  subservient  and  subordinate  ;  iu    f 
.  ,.','     ,;  the  Opera,  the  poetry  is  subservient  and  subordinate  to  the  music,  dance,  ,( 
&  luttfr  decoration,  &c. 


THE   GOECIAN-    DRAMA.  100 

ing  sometimes  of  a  strophe  only,  sometimes  of  a  strophe 
and  antistrophe — sometimes  of  all  three. 

12.  The  ancients  surpassed  the  moderns  in  nothing  more 
than  in  dancing ;  they  expressed  every  passion  of  the  mind 
by  the  movements  of  the  body ;   the  dance  was  slow  and 
solemn,   or  quick  and   lively,    according  to  the   occasion ;  .  j. 
that  of  Tragedy  was  called  fjUjul/Xaa,  of  Comedy,  icojooa^,  of  j  </2< 

the  Satvric  Drama,   atKivviq — the  various   figures  of  each  i  GLjl* 

J       *- 
were  called  <7y/jjuara  ;  in  the  ipjvlXctfl  prevailed  the  ro  fiapu 

KO\  atpvov ;  the  Kop^a^,  was  of  a  low  and  licentious  nature, 
(^opnkoc?)  so  much  so  that  Aristophanes,  on  one  occasion, 
prides  himself  for  having  excluded  it,  and  thus  it  appears 
that  it  was  not  universally  employed  in  Comedy ;  the 
ffiKtvvtG,  was  a  rapid,  lively  dance  (ra\urar»}),  full  of  frolic 
and  gambol,  but  without  any  expression  of  feeling  ;  these 
were  the  three  dramatic  dances ;  Lyric  poetry  jiad  three  |  Str^ 

8*~. 


corresponding  dances  —  i]  jrvpp(\ii,    i]  yvfiro-aicixf],  and  7; 
n)  —  the  first  resembled  the  Satyric,  the  second 


the  Tragic,  the  third  the  Comic  ;   besides  these  six,   Athe- 
njeus  enumerates  upwards  of  fifty  different  species. 

13.  The  music  of  the  chorus  was  of  varied  kind,  accord- 
ing to  the  nature  of  the  occasion,  or  the  taste  of  the  Poet. 
The  Doric*  mood,  of  a  grave  and  lofty  nature,  was  origi- 

*  The  Doric  and  Phrygian  modes,  or,  as  Aristotle  calls  them,  the 
Hypodorian  and  Hypophryirian,  were  not  suited  to  the  Chains,  the 
former  being  lofty  and  sustained,  the  latter  suited  to  the  action  of  the 
Drama  ;  hence  it  would  seem  that  they  belonged  to  the  Actors  —  the 
Mixo-Lydian  suited  the  Chorn?,  which  was  composed  of  the  inferior 
members  of  society,  and  to  which  strains  of  a  more  subdued  and  lowly 
expression  were  suited  ;  hence  it  follows,  that  the  Tragedy  of  the 
Greeks  was  a  system  of  chant  throughout—  corresponding  with  our 
Opera,  though  differing  from  it  in  many  particulars,  as  before  stated. 


4~ 


110  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

nally  preferred  for  Tragedy — it  was  sometimes  combined 
with  the  Mixo-Lydian,  a  pathetic  mood,  and  therefore 
adapted  to  mournful  subjects :  the  Ionic  mood,  also,  was, 
from  its  austere  and  elevated  character,  well  suited  to  Tra- 
gedy ;  Sophocles  was  the  first  who  set  choral  odes  to  the 
Phrygian  mood :  Euripides  introduced  the  innovations  of 
Timotheus,  for  which  he  is  severely  attacked  by  Aristo- 
phanes in  the  Rame. 

14.  The  Odes  of  ancient  Tragedy  divide  themselves  into 
two  classes — viz.  odes  of  the  entire  chorus,  and  odes  sung 
by  individuals  :  of  the  former  class  there  are  two  species  ; 
the  parode  or  first  song  of  the  entire  chorus,  at  its  en- 
trance ;  and  the  stasimon,  which  includes  all  those  choral 
odes  that  are  without  anapaests  and  trochees — all  that  the 
chorus  sings  after  it  has  taken  possession  of  the  stage,  and 
is  incorporated  into  the  action  ;  the_stasima  divide  the  tra- 
gedy  into  acts,  form  pauses  in  the  action,  allow  opportunity 
for  the  entrance  of  new  characters,  and  indicate  perceptible 
lapse  of  time  ;  they  serve  also  to  impart  to  the  mind  that 
coUectedness  and  lofty  self-possession  which  the  ancient 
tragedy  labours  to  maintain,  even  in  the  midst  of  the  strong- 
est excitement  of  the  passions ;  Hermann  says,  that  the 
stasimon  was  so  called,  not  because  the  chorus  stood  still 
while  they  sang  it,  which  they  did  not,  but  from  its  being 
continuous,  and  uninterrupted  by  anapaests  or  trochees, 

and,  as  we  should  say,  steady :  it  seems  to  be  derived  from 

— 

erra(ne,  a  set,  araoig  juEXwr,  a  set  of  choral  songs,  i.  e.  a 
strophe,  antistrophe,  and  perhaps  an  epode.  The  odes 
sung  by  individuals  are  of  three  species — either  odes  sung 
by  one  or  other  of  the  Dramatis  Persona*  alone,  (TO.  OTTO 
_w9»^C£_pr  juovySfot,)  or  odes  divided  between  the  acting 
persons  and  the  chorus,  called  KO^WOJ,  because  lamentations 


THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA.  Ill 

for  the  dead  generally  formed  the  subject  of  the  odes  sung 
by  the  actors  and  chorus  together — (the  KOH/JLOI  are  not 
found  in  all  tragedies)  or  thirdly,  portions  sung  by  the 
chorus,  but  in  single  voices,  or  in  smaller  divisions  of  their 
whole  body.  The  Commatica,  and  the  species  allied  to  them, 
are  component  parts  of  the  individual  act  or  section  (so 
that  they  may  often  be  replaced  by  dialogue,  of  which  they 
do  indeed  but  form  a  lyrical  climax,  as  it  were),  and,  as 
such,  contribute  essentially  to  the  conduct  of  the  action  by 
their  lively  expression  of  will  and  purpose,  passionate  de- 
sire, conflicting  or  accordant  inclinations  and  endeavours. 

15.  The  Choruses  were  all  trained  with  the  greatest  care 
during  a  length  of  time  before  the  day  of  contest  arrived ; 
each  tribe  felt  intensely  interested  in  the  success  of  the 
one  furnished  by  its  choragus  ;  and  the  choragi  themselves, 
emulating  each  other,  spared  no  expense  in  the  instruction 
and  equipment  of  their  respective  choruses — they  engaged 
the  most  celebrated  choral  performers,  employed  the  ablest 
\opocLca<7Ka\oi  to  perfect  the  choristers  in  then-  music  and 
dancing,  and  provided  sumptuous  dresses  and  ornaments 
for  their  decoration. 

16.  It  is  curious  to  trace  the  gradual  extinction  of  the 
chorus — at  first  it  was  ah1 — then  subordinate  to  the  dia- 
logue— then  digressive,  and  ill-connected  with  the  piece — 
then  borrowed  from  other  pieces  at  pleasure — and  so  on — 
to  the  fiddles  and  the  act  tunes.     The  performers  in  the 
orchestra  of  a  modern  theatre  are  little  aware  that  they 
occupy  the  place,  and  may  consider  themselves  as  the  lineal 
descendants  of  the  Ancient  Chorus. 

17.  The  claim  of  the  Dorians  to  the  invention  of  Tragedy 
and  Comedy  derives  support  from  the   use  of  the  Doric 
Dialect  in  the  Choruses — this  Doric,  however,  is   different 
from  that  of  Pindar  or  Theocritus. 


112  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

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  opviOtv,  v.  758,  where  the 
chorus  of  birds,  descanting  on  the  convenience  of  wings, 
tell  the  spectators,  that  if  they  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- 
chiniae  resembles  most  the   manner  of  Euripides ;  and  of 
uEschylus,  that  of  the  Persse ;  in  two  plays  only,  (the  Persse 
and  Supplices  of  ^"Eschylus)  the  chorus  itself  performs  the 
part  of  the  prologue. 


THE   GRECIAN    DP.  AHA.  118 

SECTION  III. 

Audience. — Theatre. — Sc>:  ,•-•••:  Dr.  - 

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  (Ea,  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 
-•*?'/.'**'*  tfowrru*)  >  the  admission  money  was  called  Swsixs*. 

l 


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  com- 
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.  11,5 

3.  The  two  oboli  each  paid  at  the  entrance  seem  to  have 
gone  to  the  a/o^trtKrwi/,  called  also  Biarpwvr\q  and  Ofarpo- 
TrtuArjc,  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   'Ata^wAoe,    which  probably  was  a 
<ru^/3oAov,  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 ;   sometimesf  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. 


11  f» 


THK    <4ttm\\    DRAMA. 


same  manner  the   dramatic   candidates  themselves   wc-re 
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  Oiarpta,  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  paralases,   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  among 
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  prolate  that  they  were  not  at  the 
exhibition  of  Comedy, 


THE    GRECIAN    DKAMA.  117 

6.  The  Greeks  suffered  the  real  to  play  its  part  with  tho 
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  tho 
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  JEschylus  and  Pratinas  were  rivals.  It 
wa*  then  that  the  noble  theatre  of  stone  was  erected  within 
the  Ai)va7ov,  or  enclosure  dedicated  to  Bacchus.  In  this 
theatre  the  master-pieces  of  JEschylus,  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  Augu.-«tu.s 
and  that  of  Julius  Pollux,  his  junior  by  two  centuries ;  from 
these  account*,  aided  by  incidental  hints  in  other  author;?, 


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- 


^  TUiJ   GllECIAX    DKAilA. 

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 
ciu£w^iara,  (called  in  the  Roman  theatres  "  prsecinctiones,") 
and  again,  transversely  into  wedge-like  masses,  called  Kipm- 
cee,  (in  Latin,  "  cunei,11)  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  ROV\IV-IK<JV  ;  the  body  of  the  citizens  were  pro- 
bably arranged  according  to  their  tribes ;  the  young  men 
of  distinction  sat  apart  in  a  division,  entitled  'E^»?j3<Kov ; 
there  were  also  some  Tr/ooecpi'tu,  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  spectators1  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, 


Tilt    GRECIAN    DRA3IA.  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  "Op  \rjorp.-T.  In  the  middle  of 
the  basis  line  of  the  orchestral  crescent,  stood  a  small  plat-  - 
form,  square,  and  slightly  elevated,  called  QvpiXi'i,*  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  pail  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  AJOO/XOC — the  Roman  iter ;  its  shape  was  that  of  a 
rectangle ;  the  wings,  as  they  may  be  termed,  of  this  cpo^oc, 
were  named  flapoSoi,  and  the  entrances,  which  led  into  them 
through  the  boundary  wall,  were  entitled  ElaoSm — the 
Roman  aditus.  The  Thymele  was  sometimes  made  to  re- 
present a  tomb,  as  in  the  Persse  and  the  Choephorce  of 

*  As  the  Thymele  lay  in  the  very  centre  of  the  whole  building-,  it 
was  very  significant,  that  the  choru?,  which  was  in  fact  the  ideal  repre- 
sentative of  the  spectators,  had  its  place  in  the  very  spot  where  all  ihe 
radii  from  their  scats  converged  into  one  point. 


122  THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA, 

./Eschylus.  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  tvvo 
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  2ttt)i%  or 
stage,  in  breadth  nearly  equal  to  the  diameter  of  the  semi- 
circular part  of  the  orchestra,  and  communicating  with  the 
Sjoo/zoe  by  a  double  flight  of  steps.  The  stage  was  cut 
breadthwise  into  two  divisions.  The  one  in  front  called  the 
AoytTov,  (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  AoyaTov,  twelve  feet  in  height,  adorned  with 
columns  and  statues  between  them,  were  called  ra'YTroffK-jjwa; 
the  term  TO  VKOGKYIVIOV,  was  sometimes  applied  to  the 
room*  beneath  the  stage  ;  the  Roman  pulpitum  was  wider 
than  the  Greek  Ao-yttov,  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, 


XHE  GRECIAN  DRAMA.  123 

than  the  Eoman ;  the  Greek  actors  were  called  Scenici, 
and  the  Choristers,  Thymelici,  from  the  places  where  they 
performed.  The  part  of  the  platform  behind  the  Aoyiiov 
was  called  the  D/ooaicT/vtov,  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  jSoertXaoc  ;  the  two  side  entrances,  called 
by  Vitruvius,  hospitales,  to  inferior  personages  ;  the 

entered  through  the  centre  door,  the 
JJC  through  the  right  door,  and  the  TpiTajcoviarrig  through 
the  left  door.  In  a  similar  way,  all  the  personages  who 
made  their  appearance  by  the  EiaoSoe  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  flapamcftvUL,  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  IlfljooSoi  of  the  orchestra,  and  with  the  portico  which 
ran  round  the  topmost  range  of  the  seats. 


124  1HE   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  A/oo^uoc  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  A.OJ&OV. 

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  CEdipus 
Coloneus  requires  a  grove,  the  Ajax  a  camp,  and  the  Philoc- 
tetes  an  island  solitude.  In  Comedy,  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*  (icara/SA/^uoro)  on  canvass,  resembling 

*  As  in  the  Prometheus,  where  Caucasus  is  represented;  and  in  the 
Philoctetes,  where  the  scene  was  the  desert  Ulautl  of  Lesbo?,  With  its 
rock  and  cavern. 


THE    iiHF.CI.iX    DRAMA. 

our  scenes,  and  like  them  so  arranged  on  perspective  prin- 
ciples, as  10  produce  the  proper  illusion.  If  Genelli  be 
right,  they  spared  not  even  the  introduction  of  natural 
tree;?,  to  adorn  the  landscape  of  (Edipus  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  Con.ic  had 
the  appearance  of  private  houses — the  Satyric  was  orna- 
mented with  trees,  caves,  mountains,  &rc. 

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  tliree  entrances,  were  the  triangular 
machines  for  the  scenery,  called  by  the  Greeks,  Ilsp/aicTo*, 
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  irtpiaKToi.  The  echcea  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*  6eoXoyctov  was  a  platform 

*  ^Eschylus  in  the  Prometheus  introduces  Ooeanus  riding  on  a 
griffin  through  the  air,  and  the  whole  chorus  of  the  Oeeanides,  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  Mn\avfi  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  Tipavog  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  Bpovrttov 
was  a  contrivance  in  the  vTroo-KrjvJor,  or  room  beneath  the 
Aoyftov,  where  bladders  full  of  pebbles  were  rolled  over 
sheets  of  copper,  to  produce  a  noise  like  the  rumbling  of 
thunder.  The  KtpavvoaKoirtiov  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  SKOTTJJ,  Teepee,  Uvpyog  and 
typvKTwpiov,  representing,  as  their  names  import,  a  look-out, 
a  fortress-wall,  a  tower  and  a  beacon.  These  were  either  set 
up  apart  from  the  stationary  erections  of  the  Proscenium, 
or  connected  so  as  to  give  them,  with  the  assistance  of  the 
canvass  scene,  the  proper  aspect ;  here  a  sentinel  was  intro- 
duced, or  a  spectator,  supposed  to  be  viewing  some  distant 
object. 

The  'HfitKvicXiov  was  a  semicircular  machine  placed,  when 
wanted,  on  the  country-side  of  the  stage,  which  enclosed 
a  representation  of  the  sea  or  a  city  in  the  distance,  towards 


THE  GRECIAN   DBAMA.  127 

which  the  eye  looked  through  a  passage  between  cliffs,  or 
an  opening  among  trees.  The  Sr/)o^£7oi/  and  'H^tarpo^aov 
were  constructed  like  the  'HntKi>K\iov,  but  moved  on  a 
pivot,  so  that  by  a  sudden  whirl  the  object  they  presented 
might  be  shown  or  withdrawn  in  an  instant.  They  were 
employed  to  exhibit  heroes  transported  to  the  company  of 
Deities,  and  men  perishing  in  the  waves  of  the  sea,  or  the 
tumult  of  the  battle. 

The  'E^woT/oa  or  'EtcKujcXi^a  (the  latter  expression  is  more 
usual)  denotes  the  platform  or  small  wooden  stage,  which, 
in  passages  of  the  Drama,  where  the  interior  of  a  house 
had  to  be  exposed  to  the  spectators'  view,  was  pushed  or 
wheeled  forward  (i^wQtiv,  tKKVK\uv)  through  the  great  portal 
in  the  stone-screen  ((TKJJVTJ)  at  the  back  of  the  stage,  and 
afterwards  wheeled  back  (titTKUk-Xtt^),  when  the  interior 
had  to  be  again  withdrawn  from  view  ;  thus,  in  the  Agamem- 
non, there  is  suddenly  displayed  to  view  (by  means  of  the 
Eccyclema),  the  royal  bathing  apartment,  with  the  silver 
laver,  the  corpse  enveloped  in  the  fatal  garment,  and  Cly- 
taemnestra,  besprinkled  with  blood,  and  holding  in  her  hand 
the  reeking  weapon,  still  standing  with  haughty  mien  over 
her  murdered  victim.  Several  instances  of  the  Eccyclema 
occur  in  the  Greek  Tragedies,  all  of  which  agree  in  this, 
that  the  scenes  brought  before  the  eyes  of  the  spectators 
are  such  as  would  naturally  take  place  within  doors  ;  accord- 
ingly, it  is  not  employed  when  it  would  be  as  easy  and  pro- 
per for  the  persons  who  are  the  subjects  of  such  scenes,  to 
come  out  to  view  from  the  stage-doors — it  is  only  em- 
ployed, when  the  nature  of  the  case  makes  it  unavoidable — 
it  is  only  when  the  persons  or  objects  are  unable  of  them- 
selves to  come  out,  that  the  spectator  is,  in  a  manner, 
conducted  in.  In  almost  all  the  instances  of  its  use,  it  is 


32$  T1IE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

a  scone  of  murder  or  bloody  wounds  which  it  brings  to 
view ;  most  of  them  exhibit  groupes  of  the  living  and  dead, 
arranged  according  to  the  rules  of  art ;  for  in  no  other 
department  did  the  Drama  approximate  so  nearly  to  the 
province  of  Sculpture  as  in  the  Eccyclema. 

Such  were  some  of  the  devices  for  the  scenes  of  heaven 
and  earth ;  but  as  the  Ancient  Dramatists  brought  their 
personages  frequently  from  Tartarus,  other  provisions  were 
required  for  their  due  appearance.  Ueneath  the  lowest 
range  of  seats,  under  the  stairs,  which  led  up  to  them  from 
the  orchestra,  was  fixed  a  door,  which  opened  into  the  or- 
chestra, from  a  vault  beneath  it,  by  a  flight  of  steps,  called 
Xapwvioi  icAfyiaKee;  through  this  passage  entered  and  dis- 
appeared the  shades  of  the  departed ;  thus  in  ^Eschylus, 
the  ghost  of  Clytasmnestra  rushes  in  by  this  way  to  awaken 
the  Eumenides.  Somewhat  in  front  of  this  door  and  steps, 
was  another  communication  by  a  trap-door  with  the  vault 
below,  called 'A  vaTn'fffjua:  by  means  of  which  any  sudden 
appearance  like  that  of  the  Furies  was  effected.  A  second 
'A  vairita/jLa  was  contained  in  the  floor  of  the  AoytTov,  on  the 
right,  or  country-side,  whence  marine  or  river  Gods  as- 
cended, when  occasion  required.  In  Tragedy  the  scene 
was  rarely  changed,  in  Comedy  frequently  ;  to  conceal  the 
stage  during  this  operation,  a  curtain  called  AuXam,  wound 
round  a  roller  beneath  the  floor  was  drawn  up  (not  let 
down,  as  it  now  is)  through  a  slit  between  the  Aoytlov  and 
Proscenium. 

12.  This  Theatre  was  commenced  in  01.  70.1,  but  the 
building  was  not  completed  till  about  01.  100  ;  it  was,  how- 
ever, made  use  of  during  this  interval,  though  not  com- 
pleted ;  we  cannot  suppose  that  the  plays  of  the  great 
Tragedians  were  still  exhibited  in  a  wooden  Theatre,  whilst 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  129 

even  the  insignificant  Epiclaurus  had  obtained  from  the 
hands  of  Polycletus,  a  contemporary  of  Phidias,  a  magni- 
ficent Theatre.  The  more  ancient  name  of  the  Aoyuov 
was  'Oifjoj'/Bac.  The  Greek  Theatres  were,  in  the  strict  sense 
of  the  word,  temples,  the  several  pai  fcs  of  which  had  their 
origin  in  religious  ceremonies.  The  upper  apartments  of 
the  buildings  at  the  back  and  flank  of  the  stage  were  termed 
E*trid|yM  ;  in  them  the  movements  were  executed  by  which 
the  phenomena  of  stage-exhibition  were  represented.  Tho 
Aiovvo-micoi  TEXvZreu  were  the  performers  employed  in  the 
scenic  representations — the  French  have  preserved  this  ap- 
pellation in  their  term  "  Artistes." 

13.  The  curtain  was  not  at  first  usual  on  the  Attic  stage. 
In  the  dramas  of  jEschylus  and  Sophocles,  the  stage,  at 
their  opening,  is  evidently  empty,  and  requires  no  prepara- 
tions which  need  to  be  withdrawn  from  the  eyes  of  the 
spectators ;  but  in  many  pieces  of  Euripides,  and  perhaps 
in  the  CEdipus  Tyrannus,  the  scene  is  peopled  at  once,  and 
presents  a  stationary  group,  which  could  not  well  have  been 
formed  under  the  eyes  of  the  spectators. 


Scenic  Dresses,  &c. — 1 .  The  actors  of  Greece  never  ap- 
peared on  the  stage  without  masks.  In  the  first  age  of  the 
Drama,  they  disguised  their  faces  with  wine-lees,  or  a  spe- 
cies of  pigment  called  Ba-pa\ttov,  also  with  false-hair,  &c. 
Masks,  however,  were  soon  invented,  according  to  Suidas, 
by  Choerilus — to  Horace,  by  ^Eschylus — Aristotle  confesses 
his  ignorance  of  the  inventor :  the  mask  was  first  termed 
TrpooxuTTov,  and  subsequently  Tr/joo-wTraov ;  they  were  of 
various  kinds,  to  express  every  age,  sex,  country,  complex- 
ion, &c.  That  used  in  tragedy  was  a  kind  of  helmet,  cover- 
ing the  whole  head,  representing  not  only  the  face,  but  the 


ISO  THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

beard,  hair,  and  eyes,  and  in  the  women's  masks,  all  the  or- 
naments of  the  cap ;  being  made  of  different  materials, 
according  to  the  several  improvements  it  received  from  time 
to  time.  The  first  masks  were  made  of  the  leaves  of  a 
plant,  to  which  the  Greeks  on  that  account  gave  the  name 
of  irpoou>irtov.  Virgil  mentions  them  as  made  of  the  bark 
of  trees,  "  oraque  corticibus  summit  horrenda  cavatis,"  and 
Pollux  tells  us  they  were  made  of  leather,  lined  with  cloth ; 
the  most  perfect  were  of  wood,  executed  with  the  greatest 
care,  by  sculptors  of  the  first  rank,  who  received  their  di- 
rections from  the  Poet ;  the  tragic  masks  had  large  expanded 
mouths,  and  were  generally  copied  from  the  busts  or  statues 
of  the  persons  represented,  thus  conveying  an  exact  re- 
semblance of  them,  which  gave  an  air  of  probability  to  the 
whole.  The  mask  which  represented  ghosts  was  called 
juo|OjuoXv(C£(ov,  and  that  for  Furies,  yopyovtiov.  The  argu- 
ments in  favour  of  masks  are  the  following : — (1)  they 
gave  an  opportunity  to  the  few  actors  of  playing  several 
parts  without  being  discovered ;  (2)  the  large  opening  of 
the  mouth  was  so  contrived  as  to  make  the  voice  more  loud 
and  distinct,  a  necessary  matter  in  their  very  large  theatres; 
(3)  in  those  large  theatres  they  were  necessary,  in  order  to 
enlarge  the  features,  as  the  cothurnus  and  the  KoAn-wjua,  to 
enlarge  the  height  and  size  of  the  actors — (4)  at  such  a 
distance  the  natural  expression  of  the  eyes  and  counte- 
nance must,  at  all  events,  have  been  lost.  The  face,  how- 
ever, is  the  best  index  of  the  mind,  and  thus  the  Greeks 
sacrificed  propriety,  truth  and  reason,  to  magnificence  and 
vanity.  It  is  said  by  Plutarch  and  other  historians,  that 
Athens  spent  more  in  dramatic  representations  than  in  all 
her  wars. 
2,  As  the  Ancients  thought  that  their  Heroes  and  Demi- 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  131 

gods  far  surpassed  the  size  of  common  mortals,  they  raised 
them  by  the  cothurnus  ;  it  was  the  ancient  Cretic  hunting 
boot ;  for  tragic  use  it  was  soled  with  cork  to  the  thickness 
of  three  inches  ;  it  was  laced  up  in  front  as  high  as  the  calf, 
which  kept  the  whole  tight  and  firm  in  spite  of  the  enor- 
mous sole ;  it  was  not  worn  by  all  tragic  characters,  nor  on 
all  occasions  ;  thus  Agamemnon  is  introduced  by  jEschylus 
not  in  buskins,  but  in  sandals ;  the  cothurnus  was  similar 
to  the  high  cork  shoe,  bound  with  tin  or  silver,  worn  by  the 
Spanish  women,  called  a  chioppine,  which,  it  appears  from 
Shakspeare,  was  used  on  our  own  stage — "  Your  Ladyship 
is  nearer  heaven  than  when  I  saw  you  last,  by  the  altitude 
of  a  chioppine."  (Hamlet,  Act  II.  Scene  7.) 

3.  The  sandal  raised  by  a  cork  sole  was  called  tjujSaroc. 
The  ladies  and  chorus  had  also  the  buskin,  but  that  of  the 
latter  had  only  an  ordinary  sole ;    these  buskins  were  of 
various  colours ;  white  for  ladies,  red  for  warriors,  purple 
for  Bacchus ;  slaves  wore  the  low  shoe,  called  the  sock,  which 
was  also  the  slice  worn  by  the  comic  actor. 

4.  The  KoXTrwjua,  or  stuffing,  swelled  out  the  person  to 
heroic  dimensions — it  added  expansion  to  the  chest  and 
shoulders,  and  muscular  fulness  to  arm  and  limb. 

5.  The  dresses  were  very  various.      There  was  the  \ITU>V 
7rot)T;/3T7c  for  Gods,  heroes  and  old  men ;  that  for  hunters, 
travellers,  and  young  nobles  and  warriors,  when  unarmed, 
was  shorter,  and  sat  close  to  the  neck.     The  girdle  for 
heroes  was  that  called  the  Persian.     It  was  very  broad, 
made  of    scarlet  stuff,   and  fringed    at  the  lower  edge. 
Goddesses  and  ladies  wore  one  broad  and  plain,  of  purple 
and  gold.     The  avpua  or  ovprog,  was  a  long  purple  robe  for 
Queens  and   Princesses,    with   a  train   which   swept  the 
ground.     The  XU<*TIG  was  a  short  tra;n  with  short  sleeves 


132  THE  GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

drawn  over  the  XITWV  iroSvpfc.  Slaves  wore  the  tjucmov,  a 
kind  of  short  shirt,  or  the  tstujtttc,  a  shirt  with  only  a  sleeve 
for  the  right  arm ;  the  left  was  bare  to  the  shoulder.  Herds- 
men and  shepherds  wore  the  SujtOtpa,  a  goatskin  tunic  with- 
out sleeves.  Hunters  had  the  lp.anov  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  irttr\ov,  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,  \vith  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  (juaa-^aX«r- 
Trjpts) — sitting  high  on  the  breast — the  head-dress  was 
called  ojKog.  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  TrtVXoe,  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  arc 
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  tho 
Tragic  equipment. 


THE   GRECIAN   DBAMA.  133 

6.  From  the  splendor  of  the  c'-esses,  kc.  &c.  furnished 
by  the  ypprifoi,  the  words  \opr^id)  and  \opr]^ia  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 — £i  nq  Sianovti,  o>e  t£ 
taxwoc,  ne  X°P^J^  °  Qtos.  The  compounds  tTrixppri-yiu  and 
l7ri\opr]yia,  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  (liri\opri- 
ytiv)  to  the  husbandman :  or  again,  advancement  in  spiri- 
tual graces,  as  in  the  well-known  exhortation  of  St.  Peter, 
2  Ep.  i.  5,  tTri\oprryfo<*T£  ev  rij  TrtarEt,  &c.,  where  the  mean- 
ing is  of  greater  force  than  the  one  conveyed  in  our  version ; 
or  finally,  the  preserving  and  uniting  power  exerted  by 
Christ  on  behalf  of  his  visible  Church,  as  in  Col.  ii.  19. 
With  these  texts,  we  may  compare  Phil.  i.  19,  wherein 
tTTf^oprtjia  is  used  in  a  sense  of  like  emphasis  to  that  men- 
tioned above.  No  appellation  also  was  more  common  among 
the  Greek  ecclesiastical  writers  than  \opbs  was  for  the  body 
of  true  believers  united  under  one  Head ;  examples  of  this 
occur  frequently  in  Chrysostom  ;  thus  in  his  sixth  Homily 
on  the  Acts  we  meet  with  6  Kopv(patog  TOV  paKapiov  \opov — 
and  Kopv^aloq  rwv  aTTOffToAwi',  TOV  \opov  TWV  jua^ijrwv,  &C. 
These  designations  lead  us  to  contemplate  the  Christian 
community  in  all  ages  as  essentially  one,  and  deriving  its 
union  from  the  Divine  Choragus,  who  dispenses  his  gifts 
freely  and  liberally. 


134)  THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA, 

7.  To  return  to  the  mask,  which  boro  so  prominent  a 
part  in  the  dress  of  the  actor ;  it  was  also  often  made  of 
bronze  or  copper,  and  so  constructed  as  to  give  great  power 
to  the  voice  ;  this  was  effected  by  connecting  it  with  a  tiro 
or  periwig  (TTJIVOCTJ,  ^EVOKTJ,  hence  0evaKt£f<i>,  to  deceive) 
which  covered  the  head,  and  left  only  one  passage  for  the 
voice,  which  was  generally  circular,  (the  os  rotundum,)  so 
that  the  voice  might  be  said  to  sound  through  it — hence 
the  Latin  name  for  a  mask — persona  a  personando.  The 
greatest  possible  care  was  bestowed  upon  the  manufacture 
of  masks,  and  there  was  a  different  kind  for  almost  every 
character.  Julius  Pollux  divides  the  tragic  masks  alone 
into  twenty-six  classes  ;  the  Comic  masks  were  much  more 
numerous.  He  specifies  only  four  or  five  kinds  of  Satyric 
masks.  Most  of  the  male  wigs  were  collected  into  a  fore- 
top,  (oyicoe)  which  was  an  angular  projection  above  the 
forehead,  shaped  like  a  A,  and  was  probably  borrowed  from 
the  jc/owjSuAoe  of  the  old  Athenians.  The  female  masks, 
however,  were  often  surmounted  in  a  similar  manner.  The 
object  of  this  projection  was  to  give  the  actor  a  height  pro- 
portioned to  the  size  of  the  theatre,  for  which  the  cothur- 
nus was  also  intended.  A  male  and  a  female  mask  may  be 
seen  in  the  British  Museum,  the  former  has  a  foretop  nearly 
as  high  as  all  the  rest  of  the  mask.  The  masks  were  coloured, 
and  the  art  of  enameling  or  painting  bronze  was  much 
esteemed  in  the  time  of  ^Eschylus. 


CHRONOLOGY 

OF 

THE  GREEK  DRAMA. 


B.C. 

Olym 

The  Drama. 

Contemporary  Persons  and  Events. 

708 

18.1. 

Archilochus. 

Gyges  of  Lydia. 

693 

•21.4. 

Simonidcs  of  Amorgus. 

610 

42.3. 

Ailon  and  Stesicho.  •.«. 

Pisander  of  Corinth. 

591 

46.3. 

Solon. 

562 

54.3. 

Susarion. 

Usurpation  of  Pisbtratu%  B.C.  560.— 
Accession  of  Cyrus,  B.C.  559. 

5«9 

57.4. 

Death  of  PhalarU. 

546 

58.3. 

Hipponax,  an  Ephesian,  a  writer  of 
Iambics,  flou.ished  in  the  times  of 
Croesus  and  Solon. 

5(4 

59.1. 

Theognii. 

533 

61.2. 

Thespis  first  exhibit. 

Aracrcon,  Ibycus,  Pythagoras. 

535 

63.4. 

.Eschjrlus  born. 

Cambyse*  conquers  Egypt. 

523 

64.2. 

Choerilus  first  exhibits. 

520 

65.1. 

Melanippides,  a   dithyrambic   writer, 
flourished. 

519 
511 

65.2. 
67.2. 

P'-th  of  Cratlnus,  the  Comic  Poet 
Phrynichus  first  exhibits. 

Pindar  born  the  year  after. 

Expulsion  of  the  Pist.'tratitljr,  B.  C. 
510—  of  the  Tarquius,  B.C.  509. 

see 

68.1. 

Institution  nf  the  xopoc  drops*. 
Lasus  of  Hcrmionc,  the  dithrrambbt 

Heraclitus  and  Parmcnide*,  the  philo- 
sophers, and  Hecatxus.thc  historian. 

500 

70.1. 

Epicharmus  perfects  Comedy,  Jong  be- 
fore Chionides,  in  Hicrb's  reign, 
lived  97  year*. 

Birth  of  Anaxagora?. 

499 

70.2. 

.£<chjlu*,  aged  25,  first  exhibits. 

Ionian  war  commences,  and  Sardis  burnt 

495 

71.2. 

Birth  of  Sophocles. 

Miletus  taken,  B.C.  494. 

490 

72.3. 

.Eschylus  at  Marathon,  «t.  3j. 

Miltiades. 

487 

73.2. 

Chionides  first  exhibit 

Dinolochus,  a  Syracusan  or   Agrigcn- 
tine.   Mylcs,  a  Comic  Poet,  exhibits 
at  Athens. 

136 


CHRONOLOGY   OP   THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 


Olym 


The  Drama. 


Contemporary  Persons  and  Events. 


74.1 


75.1 


75.4 
76.1, 


77.1 


78.1 


80.3. 
81.1. 


81.2. 


81.3. 


83.1. 
83.2. 


84.4. 


85.4. 
80.1. 


86,3. 

87.2. 


87.3. 


87.4. 
88.1. 


88.2. 


88.3. 


.flSschylus  gains  his  first  prize. 
Birth  of  Euripides. 

The  N3<7oi  of  Epicharmus  represented, 

Phrynichus  victor  with  his  Phrenissae, 
Themistocles  Choragus. 

.SSschyli  Phineus,  Persae,  Glaucus, 
Prometheus. 

First  Victory  of  Sophocles,  probably 
with  his  TpurToXe/iog  aarvptKog— 
.Sschylus  goes  to  Sicily. 

jEschyli  'Opta-reia,  again  retires  to  Sicily 
^schylus  dies—  set.  69. 

Euripides  exhibits  his  IIe\(u5e<;—  aet.  25 
and  gains  the  third  prize. 

Aristarchus  of  Tegea,  the  Tragic  Poet, 
and  Cratinus  the  Comic  poet  flourishet 

Ion  of  Chios  begins  to  exhibit. 
Crates,  the  Comic  Poet,  exhibits. 


Cratini  'A 

Achscus  Eretriensis,  the  tragedian. 

Euripides  gains  the  first  prize. 

A  decree  to  prohibit  comedy. 

The  prohibition  of  comedy  is  repealed. 

Cratinus  conquers  —  Three  victories  of 
his  are  recorded  after  the  repeal  of 
the  decree,  viz.,  B.C.  425,  42-1&  423. 

Phrynichus,  the  comic  poet,  exhibits. 

Lysippus,  the  comic  poet,  conquers. 

Euripidis  Mjjdeia,  ttiXoKTrjTf/f  ,  A/KTI/J, 
eepto-rcu. 

Hermippus,  the  comic  poet,  lidiculed 
Pericles. 

Eupolis  exhibits—  Born  B.C.  416. 
Juripides  'IjTiroXu-j-og. 
Aristophanis  AanaXetf  . 
ArKtophanis  Vaftvhtavioit 


Birth  of  Herodotus,  also  of  Acha:us. 
a  tragic  writer, 

Thermopylae,  Salamis — Lconidas,  Aris. 
tides,  Themistocles— Phcrccydcs,  the 
historian — Gelon  of  Syracuse. 

Hicro  succeeds  Gelon,  B.C.  478. 

Simonides,  ast.  80,  "gains  the    prize 
'Av&piov  Xopif. 

Birth  of  Thucydides,  B.C.  471. 


Socrates  born  ;  M ycenae  destroyed  by 
the  Argives ;  death  of  Simonides, 
B.C.  467. 

Anaxagoras — Birth  of  Lysias. 
Herodotus  at  Olympia. 

End  of  the  Messenian  and   Egyptian 
wars— Empcd'jclesandZeno — 1'criclcs 


Baschylides,  the  lyric  poet  flourishes— 
Archehuis  the  philosopher. 

Death  of  Cimon,  B.C.  449. 
Battle  of  Coronoea. 

Herodotus  and  Lysias  go   with  the 
colonists  to  Thurium,  B.C.  443. 

The  Samian  war,  in  which  Sophocles  is 
colleague  with  Pericles. 

Isocrates  born,  B.C.  436. 


Sea-fight  between  the  Corinthians  and 

Corcyraans. 

Andocidcs,  Melon,  Aspasia,  Callias. 

Attempt  of  the  Thebans  on  Platasa— 
Hippocrates.  Aristomenes,  the  comic 
poet. 

Plague  at  Athens. 


Siege  of  P!ata;a— Birth  of  Plato. 
Anaxagoras  dies— Plato  the  comic  poet. 

Surrender  of  Platcea— Gorgias  of  Lcoi  - 
tium. 

Tarigra. 


CHRONOLOGY  OF  TJE  DRAMA. 


137 


Olym 


The  Drama. 


Contemporary  Persons  and  Events. 


89.2. 

89.3. 

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. 

93.4 
93.4. 

94.1. 
94.3. 

95.2. 


Aristophanes  first  with  the  'Axapveif  , 
Cratinus  second  with  the  Xc</ia£b^ciro< 
Eupolis  third  with  the  Xop/invt'at. 

Aristophanes  first  with  the  'iTjreTc, 
Cratinus  second  with  the  Sdrupot  • 
Aristomenes  third  with  the  'OAo0i>pjio« 

Cratinus  first  with  the  nvrbn.  Ameip- 
sias  second  with  the  Kowog  •  Aristo- 
phanes third  with  &*rr*nm^&(4u 

Aristophanis   Z$T}tts   &    aj   ^f>lt 


Eupolidis  MapiicJs  et  KoAoJtef. 

Eupplidis  Ah6\UKOS  et  'Aa-rpanvro,, 
rherecratis-ATP,o». 

Aristophanis  Elpi^n. 

Agathon  gains  the  tragic  prize. 

Xenocles  first  ;  Euripides  second,  with 
his  Tpajtc,  "AAefdnSpoj,  UaAu/i'/dni', 

3.11(1   ^.KTVdtOCt 

Aristophanis  'AM0«apao£  (eJcAiJvaia.j 

Ameipsias  first  ;    Aristophanes  second 
with  the'Opn^e  ;  Phryuichus  third 

(e.J  OCTT.,). 

Hesemonis    Ttfarroita^'a—  firtt  who 
introduced  parody  on  the  stage. 

Euripidis  'Awipo/ie'da. 

ArlstophanU     Auaio-Tparii    and    Oeir- 
/iof>op<d£bv<ro<. 

Sophocles  first  with  the  4>(AoKT>jTn;  • 
Euripidis  'Opecrrns  —  Aristophanis  H\ou- 


Euripides  dies,  a;t.  75—  Expense  of  the 
dramatic  exhibitions divideJ  between 
two  Chorag" 

Sophocles  dies,  set.  90— before  the  Le- 
nzan  festival. 

Aristophanis  Bnrpaxot,  first;  Phrynichi 
Mouerui,  second  ;  1'latonis  KXcofiuv, 
thiid. 

Sannyrion  flourished. 

Sophocles  'Oi&iirovf  €ici  KoXwvw,  exhi- 
bited by  his  grandson  Soph ocles,  son 
of  Ariston,  wtio  first  exhibited  in  his 
own  name,  B.C.  396,  gained  twelve 
victories. 

Astydamas,  a  tragic  writer,  exhibits. 


Cleon  at  Sphacteria — Sixth  year  of  the 
Peloponnesian  war. 


Xenophon    at     Delium — Atnphipolij 
taken  from  Thucydides  by  Brasidas. 


The  year's  truce  with  Lacedaemon— . 
Alcibiades  begins  to  act  in  public  af- 
fairs. 

Brasidas  and  Cleon  killed  at  Amphi- 
polis. — Cratinus  dies. 

Truce  for  fifty  years  with  Lacedaemon. 
Treaty  wilh  the  Argives. 

Thirteenth  year  of  the  war. 
Capture  of  Melos. 

Archippus,  the  comic  poet,  gains  his 
single  prize— Expeditiuu  to  Sicily. 


Destruction  of  the    Athenian    -  my 
before  Syracuse. 

Lesbos,  Chios,  and  Erythrz  revolt. 
The  400  at  Athens. 


Birth  of  Antiphanes,  a  poet  of  the 
middle  comedy. 

Arginusa?  —  Dionysius  becomes  master 
ot"  Syracuse  —  Philistus,  the  Sicilian 
historian. 

CEgospo  tamos  —  Conon. 


The  Thirty  at  Athens. 


Xenophon  with  Cyrus— Ctesias,  the  his- 
torian—  I'lato — Telestcs  gains  a  di. 
tbyrambic  prize. 


Philoxenus,  Timotheus  and  Telestes, 
ditbyrambic  poets,  flourished. 


138 


CHRONOLOGY    OP   THE   DRAMA. 


B.C. 


Olym. 


The  Drama. 


Contemporary  Persons  and  Events. 


393 


392 


387 
386 


376 


372 


368 
367 


356 


96.4. 


97.1. 
98.1. 


•J8.2. 
98.3. 


01.1. 


103.1. 
103.3. 


106.1, 


352 

330 


349 


318 


342 


105.1. 


105.4. 


106.1. 


109.3. 


110.4. 


336 


335 


333 


332 


111.1. 


111.2. 


111.4. 


112.1. 


Xenarchus.  the  Mimographus  in  the 
Court  of  Dionysi  us,  during  the  Rhe. 
gian  war. 

Aristophanis  'EfcxXfiffiafovo-ai. 

Aristophanis  n\olrrof  ft' — now  only 
one  prize  for  comedy — expense  of 
tragedy  also  retrenched.  Two  tragic 
XoptiY't"  between  B.  C.  394  and  388, 
cost  5000  drachmae— in  B.C.  410,  one 
cost  3000. 

Antiphanes  begins  to  exhibit,  a-t .  20. 
Hi  eopompus,  last  poet  of  the  old  comedy. 

Eubulus,  Araros,  ton  of  Aristophanes, 
and  Anaxandridcs,  comic  poets,  wri- 
ters of  middle  comedy. 

Astydamas,  the  younger,  gains  the  first 
prize  in  tragedy. 

Aphareus,  the  tragedian,  exhibits. 

Dionysius  gains  the  tragic  prize  with  the 
A  irrpa  "LKTOpoc. 

Alexis,  the  comic  poet. 


Theodectes  of  Phaselis,  the  tragic  poet. 
Demosthenes  x°Pi7°c  • 

From  a  passage  in  Demosthenes  it  ap- 
pears there  are  still  three  annual  fes- 
tivals of  Bacchus,  at  which  Dramatic 
pieces  were  presented — ra  ev  IleipaicI, 
Ta  A/;vaia— rd  fv  ciffTfi — at  this  time 
the  expense  of  tragic  exhibitions  lees 
than  that  of  the  x°p"<.'  wipiav, 

Hcraclides,  the  comic  poet. 

Birth  of  Menander— lived  51  years. 


Lycurgus,  the  orator,  restored  the  cre- 
dit of  comic  exhibitions  at  the  Le- 
nican  festival,  and  enacted  honors  for 
the  three  great  tragic  poets. 

Amphis,  the  comic  poet,  still  exhibits, 
viz.  the  Koi>pi£. 

Philippidcs,  the  comedian,  one  of  the 
six  selected  as  standards  of  the  new 
comedy. 

Theodectes  was  dead  when  Alexander 
visited  Phaselis,  where  he  honored 
his  memory. 

Stephanus,  the  comic  poet. 


Ages'lav-  -Plato  the  comic  poet. 


Peace  of  Antalcldas. 


Alexander  born— Dionysius  expclled- 
Timothcus,  the  musician,  dies. 


Demosthenes  against    Midias — Philip 
and  the  Olynthian  war. 

Timoleon    at    Syracuse—  Isocrates— 
Aristotle. 


Philip  assassinated. 


Siege  of  Tyre, 


CTIKON'OLOGY   OF   THE    DRAMA. 


139 


B.C. 

Olyra. 

The  Drama. 

Contemporary  persons  and  Evcuu. 

330 

112.3. 

Philemon  exhibits,  a  little  earlier  than 
Menandcr—  lifcd  97  years. 

Darius  slai  . 

327 

113.2. 

'AI'IJV,  ipuua  o-aTt'pixor,  exhibited  in 
Alexander's  camp,  on  the  banks  of 
the  Hydaspes,  after  the  revolt  of  Har. 
pal  us. 

324 

114.1. 

Timocles  still  exhibits  —  ridicules  the 
leading  orators  for  taking  bribes  from 
Harpalus. 

Alexander  dies—  Demo.-thenes   r'ie*. 
B.C.  322. 

321 

114.4. 

Menandri  'Op-j^  —  with  which  he  was 
successful,  st.  21. 

320 

115.1. 

Diphilus  of  Sinope. 

316 

116.1. 

Alexidis'lwiroc. 

307 
304 

113.1. 
119.1. 

Demetrius,  the  comic  poet. 

Archedippus,  Philippides,  Anaxippus, 
comic  poets,  flourished—  Philippiiles 
ridiculed  the  honors  paid  to  Deme- 
trius Poliorcetes,  through  the  in- 
fluence of  Strategies  the  demagogue. 

Epicurus—  Agathocks. 

291 

122.2. 

Death  of  Menander. 

Arcesilauj. 

289 

122.4. 

Posidippus  begins  to  exhibit,  the  last 
writer  of  new  comedy.  Rhinthon 
flouiuhed. 

283 

124.2. 

Sopater  of  Paphos  still  continues  to  ex- 
hibit comedy,  flourished  more  than 
forty  years. 

280 

123.1. 

Sotades.l 

War  with  Pyirbus. 

230 

137.3. 

Macho  the  comedian. 

200 

145.1. 

Apollodorus  the  Carystian. 

Plautus  r"cs. 

CHAPTER   IV. 


MISCELLANEOUS    OBSERVATIONS. 

1.  THE  GEdipus  Bex  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  woi  thily  depicted ;  the  Electra 
is  distinguished  by  energy  and  pathos ;  and  the  (Edipus  at 
Colonos  by  a  touching  mildness  and  pcacefulness.  Schlegel 
prefers  the  last,  because  it  is  most  expressive  of  the  personal 
character  of  Sophocles. 

2.  The  difference  between  the  characters  of  ^Eschylus 
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 
°ry  °^  Athens,  as  the  holy  habitation   of  Justice  and 
-  -Humanity ;  in  the  patriotic  and  free-spirited  TEschylus,  this 
is  effected  by  a  judicial  procedure  ;   in  the  pious  Sophocles, 
by  a  religious  one,  even  the  death-devotion  of  (Edipus ; 
the  Furies  are  very  pronr'nent  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 
\\  x'eath. 

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 
him  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.'"    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  mortals11 — 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,  r]  yXwo-o-'  6/iw^ox",  r)  Si  Qpijv  avwjuoroe,  expresses  the 
"  reservatio  mentalis"  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.     Aa 
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 
very  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,  exce1]ent  when 
the  subject  leads  mainly  to  pathos,  and  when  the  pathos  it- 
self calls  for  moral  beauty  ;  whilst  inferior  to  Sophocles  and 
and  ^Eschylus,  he  is  superior  to  those  who  followed  him. 
The  relative  merits  of  the  tliree  Poets  may  be  seen  by  com- 
paring then*  three  plays  which  are  extant  on  the  same  sub- 
ject, the  avenging  murder  of  Clytsemnestra  by  Orestes,  viz. 
the  Choephoroi  of  /Eschylus,  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'  plays ;  the 
Bacchse  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, 
haa  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  Lycoph~'on,  the  only  one  ex- 
tant) were  very  \\jetched. 

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  puipose ;  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  were  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,1"  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  "  Birds1'  is  the  most  purposeless  of  all  his 
plays,  and  therefore  one  of  the  most  delightful ;  he  declares 


146  THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

his  "  Clouds1'  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  Ne\ 
Comedy,  but  a  transition  from  one  species  to  another  dc 
not  itself  constitute  a  species. 

16.  Euripides  lowered  the  tone  of  Tragic  Poetry  froii 
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 


THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA.  14? 

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, 
othei-wise  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  Greek  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  greatlj 
admired  Epicurus. 

23.  As  the  Greek  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   GRECIAX   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  Rome ;  the  Histriones, 
who  were   merely  dancers,   they  borrowed  from   Etruria ; 
their  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  Romans  showed  more 
genius  for  Comedy  than  for  Tragedy. 

28.  Noble  Roman  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  Romans  had  also  their  Mimes;  the  Greek  Mimes 
were  dialogues  written  in  prose,  and  not  intended  for  the 

*  From  Atella,  a  town  of  the  Osci. 


150  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  Csesar  to  act  publicly  in  his  own  Mimes,  and 
Syrus,  the  freedman  of  Laberius ;  Horace  disparages  the 
Mimes  of  Laberius. 

30.  The  regular  Comedy  of  the  Romans  was  mostly 
palliata,  that  is,  was  exhibited  in  the  Grecian  costume,  and 
represented  Grrecian  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. 

81 .  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  prologue1,  which  is  still  extant,  complains  touchingly 
of  the  disgrace  thus  inflicted  on  him.  Though  Caesar  gave  him  a  large 
gum  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   DBAMA.  151 

32.  In  the  Tragic  literature  of  the  Romans,  two  epochs 
may  be  distinguished;  the  older  epoch  of  Living  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  works ;  the  latter, 
original  authors  of  Tragedy,  one  of  the  chief  of  whom  was 
Asinius  Pollio. 

33.  Only  one  specimen  of  the  talents  of  the  Romans  for 
Tragedy  has  come  down  to  us,  viz.  the  ten  Tragedies  which  u  -« 
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  v 
the  chorus  in  the  newer  Comedy. 

35.  The  presence  of  the  Chorus  in  Tragedy,  officiating  as 
no  part  of  the  Dramatis  Personse,  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  Hegeinou,  that  the  Athenians  received  intelligence  of  the 
defeat  of  then*  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  J£s- 
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  Gulliver's  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  arc  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 
manners.1* 


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  Atellana) — 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  the 
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  GRECIAN  DRAMA.  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  \opoc,  viz.  from  ^wpoc). 
The  maintenance  of  military  discipline  was  the  principal 
object  of  the  Dorian  legislators,  hence  these  hymns  and 
dances  were  of  a  maitial  nature;  the  God  they  worshipped 
was  a  God  of  war,  of  music,  and  of  civil  government ;   a 
Dorian  political  Deity ;  his  name  'ATroXXwv,  («.<?.)  'ATriXXwr, 
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  dtma-ig,  or  ordinances,) 
was  the  regulator  of  all  the  Dorian  law  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  ^tAtt?,  from  not  being  so  well  dressed  as  those 


156  THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

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,  (KOCTJUOC). 

49.  Music  and  dancing  being  thus  first  cultivated  by  the 
Dorian  states,  it  follows  that  the  introduction  of  choral 
poetry  into  Greece  is  due  to  them ;  this  is  also  evident  from 
the  fact,  that  the  Doric  dialect  is  preserved  in  the  lyric 
poetry  of  the  other  Grecian  tribes  ;  now  the  lyric  poetry  of 
the  Greeks  was  not  an  offspring  of  the  epos,  but  of  the 
choral  songs,  and  if  the  lyric  poetry  of  the  JSolians  and 
lonians  was  always  (with  the  exception  perhaps  of  Corinna^ 
Boeotian  choruses)  written  in  the  Doric  dialect,  the  choral 
poetry,  of  which  it  was  a  modification,  must  have  been 
Dorian  also.     With  regard  to  Athens,  it  is   evident  that 
choruses  were  not  instituted  there,  until  the  Athenians  had 
recognized  the  Dorian  oracle  at  Delphi,  for  some  old  Del- 
phian oracles  are  extant,  particularly  enjoining  these  Doric 
rites,  which  could  hardly  have  been  necessary,  had  they 
existed  at  Athens  from  the  first. 

50.  All  dancing  in  ancient  times  was  either  gymnastic  or 
mimetic  ;  it  was  gymnastic  when  intended  merely  as  an  ex- 
ercise, or  as  a  preparation  for  certain  exercises  (and  this 
was  originally  the  nature  of  the  Doric  choruses)  ;   it   was 
mimetic  when  it  was  designed  to  express  some  mental  feel- 
ing, or  to  represent  by  corresponding  gestures  the  words  of 
the  accompanying  choral  song :  to  the  former  species  of 
mimic  dances  may  be  referred  the  Nomes  and  the  Paeans,* 

*  The  Paean  became  Bacchic  in  the  end,  and  was  sometimes  mixed 
up  with  the  Dithyramb, 


THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA.  157 

to  the  latter,  the  Hyporcheme.  The  Pyrrhic  and  Gymno- 
psedian  dances  belong  to  the  second  class  of  gymnastic 
dances:  for  in  them  an  outward  object  only  is  imitated,  and 
that  too  by  way  of  preparation  for  the  objects  of  imitation; 
the  Pyrrhic  dance  was  peculiarly  Lacedsemoniar  as  was 
also  the  Gymnopsedia,  a  festival  celebrated  by  the  Spartans 
in  honor  of  Apollo.  The  Pyrrich  dance,  also  originally 
connected  with  the  worship  of  Apollo,  like  the  other  ge- 
nuine Dorian  music,  and  also  played  to  with  the  lyre,  was 
in  later  times,  like  the  Castoreum*  and  other  embateria, 
played  to  the  flute,  and  is  spoken  of  in  connexion  with  the 
rites  of  Jupiter  in  Crete,  and  with  those  of  the  Dioscuri  in 
Laconia ;  this  is  easily  accounted  for  :  the  Dorians  always 
adopted,  in  some  measure,  the  religion  of  the  countries 
which  they  conquered ;  they  found  in  Crete  a  native  Jupi- 
ter, whom  they  received  into  their  creed,  in  Sparta  national 
Achaean  Deities,  Castor  and  Pollux,  whom  they  made  the 
sons  of  Jupiter,  and  considered  as  the  leaders  of  their 
armies.  Now  this  was  the  function  of  their  national  God, 
Apollo  ;  and  when  they  transferred  his  office  to  the  Gods  of 
the  country,  it  was  natural  enough  that  they  should  transfer 
along  with  it  the  corresponding  songs  and  dances.  The 
lyre  was  the  original  accompaniment  in  the  Cretan  and 
Spartan  marches,  and  the  flute  was  substituted  only  because 
its  notes  were  shriller  and  more  piercing ;  and  the  substitu- 
tion of  the  flute  for  the  lyre  in  the  Pyrrhic  dances  was  the 
natural  consequence  of  the  relation  subsisting  between 
them  and  the  military  evolutions  of  the  Dorians.  The 
Gymnopaedian  and  the  Pyrrhic  were  then  Dorian  gymnastic 
dances,  but,  though  not,  strictly  speaking,  mimetic,  they 

*  The  Castoreum  was  only  the  accompaniment  of  the   Pyrrhic 
dance. 


158  THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA* 

yet  had  some  elements  so  nearly  approaching  to  mimicry, 
that  in  the  end  they  became  Dionysian,  and  therefore, 
mimic  dances,  and  in  this  case  they  were  connected,  in 
form,  with  the  Hyporcheme,  which  was,  as  its  name  implies, 
a  dance  expressing  by  gestures  the  words  of  the  accom- 
panying poem,  and  therefore  strictly  a  mimetic  dance.  The 
Hyporcheme  was  of  great  antiquity ;  it  is  alluded  to  by 
Homer  in  the  description  of  the  shield  of  Achilles,  where 
a  Cretan  dance  is  described,  in  which  young  men  and  maid- 
ens are  moving  and  singing  in  chorus,  holding  one  another 
by  the  wrists,  while  two  dancers  lead  off  the  song  and  move 
actively  in  the  midst.  The  word  used  to  express  the  func- 
tion of  these  actors  (e^ap^ovTec),  and  the  name  given  to 
them  (KujSforrjrjJiOf),  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  poetry  of  a  later  age,  as  has  been  before 
stated  ;  the  pyrrhic  corresponding  to  the  satyric,  or 
both  being  rapid ;  the  gymnopsedic  to  the  tragic  or  Ej 
both  being  solemn ;  and  the  hyporchematic  to  the  comic  or 
K0joca£,  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  ^Egidse,  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  Tpi\aiKfs,  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  "H/\to?  and  SfXi/^rj,  (related 
names,  like  uArj  and  Sylva,)  and  by  the  Pelasgian  old-inha- 
bitants of  Italy,  as  well  under  names  connected  with  the 
Greek,  viz.  Sol  and  Se  (luna),  as  under  the  names  Janus  or 
Dianus,  and  Diana.  ("Eicaroe  and  'Etcarr/  were  also  their 
names.)  In  Greece,  however,  the  original  names  of  these 
divinities  early  fell  into  disuse,  and  were  rather  applied  to 
the  natural  objects  themselves,  than  to  the  deities  whom 
they  were  supposed  to  typify,  and  Bacchus  or  Dionysus  was 
adopted  a«  a  new  name  for  the  Sun -god,  and  Deo  or  Demeter 


160  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

for  the  goddess  of  the  Moon.  That  the  origin  of  these 
deities  was  ungrecian  cannot  be  doubted ;  their  worship 
was  probably  derived  from  Thrace,  or  from  Tyre,  or  most 
probably  from  Egypt.  Connected  in  many  of  their  attri- 
butes with  the  old  elementary  worship  of  the  Pelasgians, 
they  were  at  length  blended  and  confused  with  the  gods  of 
the  country.  Dionysus  was  the  wine-god  ;  Deo,  the  fertile 
earth  from  which  the  vine  sprung  up ;  how  natural  then, 
was  the  transition  from  the  god  of  the  vine  to  the  sun  to 
whose  influence  its  growth  was  owing  ;  but  if  he  ascended 
from  earth  to  heaven,  it  was  necessary  that  his  sister  deity 
should  go  with  him,  and  so  Demeter  was  translated  to  the 
Moon,  and  ruled  amid  the  lights  of  night.  Indeed,  Bacchus 
himself  is  sometimes  represented  as  a  night-god,  and  in 
Sophocles  he  is  invoked  as  the  choragus  of  the  fire-breathing 
stars  ;  thus  Bacchus  and  Demeter  were  the  representatives 
of  those  two  heavenly  bodies,  by  which  the  husbandmen 
measured  the  returning  seasons,  and  as  such  are  invoked 
by  Virgil  at  the  commencement  of  the  Georgics  ;  they  also 
represented  the  earth  and  its  productions  ;  and  were,  in  the 
third  place,  the  presiding  deities  of  the  under- world.  This 
also  may  be  easily  explained.  The  Greeks  were  wont  to 
consider  the  cause  of  any  thing,  as  also  in  some  measure  the 
cause  of  its  contrary ;  thus  Apollo  was  the  cause  and  the 
preventer  of  sudden  death ;  Mars  caused  and  cured  the 
madness  of  Ajax ;  Bacchus,  the  bright  and  merry  God,  is 
also  the  superintendent  of  the  orphic  or  black  rites ;  the 
God  of  life  and  light,  he  is  also  the  God  of  death,  and  the 
ruling  power  in  the  nether  regions. 

It  was  to  be  expected  that  mimicry  should  enter  largely 
into  the  worship  of  Bacchus,  and  the  mirror  which  was 
given  to  him  by  Vulcan,  was  probably  an  emblem  of  the 


THE^GRECIAJT   DRAMA.  ]61 

mimetic  character  of  his  worship.  A  religion  which  looks 
upon  the  Sun  and  Moon  as  visible  representatives  of  invi- 
sible deities  is  essentially  imitative  in  all  its  rites.  If  the 
Sun,  and  the  ever-revolving  lights  were  fit  emblems  of  a  deity, 
the  circling  dance  round  the  blazing  altar  was  an  obvious 
copy  of  the  original  symbols,  and  an  equally  apt  represen- 
tation. The  Sun-god  when  he  roamed  the  earth,  was  pro- 
perly attended  by  the  Sileni,  the  deities  presiding  over  run- 
ning streams ;  the  goddess  of  the  Moon  by  the  Naiades, 
the  corresponding  female  divinities  ;  and  sometimes  the  two 
bands  united  to  form  one  merry  train.  To  these  Sileni 
were  added  the  Satyrs,  a  mixture  of  man  and  goat,  different 
from,  though  sometimes  confounded  with,  the  Sileni ;  for 
while  the  Sileni  were  real  divinities,  the  Satyrs  were  only 
the  deified  representations  of  the  original  worshippers,  who 
assumed  as  their  dress  the  skin  of  the  goat,  which  they  had 
sacrificed  as  a  welcome  offering  to  their  Wine-god.  Such 
was  the  religion  of  Bacchus  when  it  found  its  way  into 
Greece,  and  doubtless  it  was  soon  incorporated  with  that  of 
the  Sun-god,  and  the  mixed  religion  became  prevalent  both 
within  and  without  the  Peloponnesus.  The  Dorians,  then, 
having  a  pair  of  deities  corresponding  in  many  respects 
with  these  objects  of  elementary  worship,  which  they  found 
established  in  most  of  the  countries  they  subdued,  naturally 
adapted  their  own  religion  to  the  similar  one  already  sub- 
sisting. The  dances  of  Bacchus  in  their  original  character 
resembled  those  of  Apollo,  for  they  were  also  military  :  and 
perhaps  the  occasional  gymnastic  nature  of  the  former  may 
be  considered  as  a  reason  for  the  acceptance  of  this  reli- 
gion by  the  warlike  Dorians,  in  addition  to  the  approxima- 
tion to  mimicry  in  the  Apollonian  dances  already  ad- 
verted to. 


162  THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

52.  The  earliest  species  of  choral  poetry  connected  with 
the  worship  of  Bacchus  was  the  Dithyramb ;  a  derivation 
of  SiQvpafjifloG  has  been  given,  viz.  from  St'e,  and  Ovpa ;  the 
quantity  of  the  first  syllable  has  been  objected :  the  answer 
to  the  objection,  viz.  that  this  deviation  from  the  quantity 
of  St£  arose  from  the  necessities  of  the  trochaic  verse,  is  not 
sufficient,  unless  it  can  be  shewn,  not  only  that  the  metre 
of  the  dithyramb  itself  was  trochaic,  (which  is  far  from 
certain,)  but  also  that  it  was  necessary  to  introduce  the 
name  of  the  poem  into  the  poem  itself.  Blomfield  thinks 
there  is  an  etymological  connexion  between  the  words 
iaju/3oe,  fljOi'a/ijSoG-,  and  Stflv/oajujSoe,  (which  is  probably  the 
case,)  and  that  they  are  corruptions  of  Egyptian  words 
(which  is  not  so  certain).  It  may  be  derived  from  At,  a  con- 
traction of  Au,  and  Ovpaog,  the  thyrsus,  or  ivy-encircled 
wand ;  Bvpvog  is  another  form  of  fyn'ao-oc,  a  collection  of 
leaves,  from  Qp~ia,  fig-leaves;  from  the  form  Opiaaos,  0/oia/jj3oc 
may  be  derived.  The*  original  subject  of  the  dithyramb 
was  the  birth  of  Bacchus ;  if  then  it  can  be  shewn  that  the 
thyrsus  and  the  thrium  were  emblems  of  his  birth,  this  de- 
rivation will  be  rendered  probable.  An  old  legend  says  that 
the  palace  of  Thebes  being  burnt  by  lightning,  the  infant 
Bacchus  was  preserved  by  being  enveloped  in  the  ivy  which 
grew  around  the  columns  (KJOVOC),  hence  Bacchus  was  called 
HfpiKioviog  by  the  Thebans.  The  Thyrsus  then  was  proba- 
bly a  rude  representation  of  Bacchus  Pericionius  ;  the 
cone  was  the  head,  the  spear  the  ivy-enveloped  body  of 
the  infant  God.  Another  interpretation  of  the  thyrsus  was, 
that  its  cone  represented  the  heart  of  Bacchus  fixed  upon 

*  According  to  Plato,  the  name  of  the  song  expressed  as  much, 


THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA.  163 

a  spear  point ;  this  may  explain  the  first  syllable  of  the 
word  StOvpanfios,  for,  r»jv  TOV  a/z/3Xo^iaroe  icapStav  rjveyKE 
IlaAXae  r<£  Arf.  Eustath.  p.  84.  With  regard  to  the  thrium 
it  may  be  remarked,  that  the  thyrsi  in  Zoega  have  no  ivy 
round  the  spear  shaft,  but  the  heads  are  actual  thria,  i.  e. 
something  wrapt  up  in  leaves  ;  it  is  said  that  the  leaves  of 
the  thrium  were  properly  three  ;  the  caduceus  of  Hermes  or 
Bacchus  was  also  called  rpiTrlrTjAoe.  The  Dithyramb  is  also 
called  Ktdo-o^opoe  by  Simonides  of  Ceos.  Some  derive 
0/om///3oe  from  9piai,  prophetic  maids,  others  from  Opial,  the 
pebbles  used  in  divination. 

53.  The  music  of  the  Dithyramb  was  Phrygian,  there- 
fore stirring  and  rapid,  and  the  flute  its  original  accompani- 
ment. 

54.  Whilst  the  Dithyramb  was  adopted  by  the  Dorians 
as  a  connecting  link  between  the  old  religion  and  their  own, 
a  more  primitive  form  of  the  worship  still  subsisted,  viz. 
the  Phallic  processions,  the  rural  celebration  of  the  vintage ; 
while  the  Comedy  of  the  Greeks  arose  from  this,  Tragedy- 
sprang  up  from  the  more  solemn  festivities  of  the  Dithy- 
ramb. 

55.  The  lyrical  Drama  coincided  with  the  Dithyramb  in 
confining  its  narrations  to  the  history  of  Bacchus;  though 
after  a  time  the  lays  of  other  Heroes  were  introduced  in 
his  stead ;   thus  Adrastus  was  the  subject  of  lyrical  trage- 
dies at  Sicyon  in  very  early  times,  and  that  town  laid  claim, 
and,  according  to  Themistius,  not  without  some  justice,  to 
the  invention  of  dramatic  poetry :  Epigenes  the  Sicyonian 
is  mentioned  as  the  first  of  a  series  of  sixteen  dramatic 
poets,  ending  with  Thespis.  It  was  also,  like  the  Dithyramb, 
danced  by  the  Cyclic  chorus  j  it  substituted,  however,  the 
lyre  for  the  flute,  and  staid  measures  and  regular  action  for 


164 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 


the  wild  and  impassioned  movements  of  the  older  form  of 
Bacchic  poetry.  The*  lyrical  Drama  had  no  actors ;  it  was 
merely  a  lyrical  chorus ;  in  what  then  did  the  dramatic 
element  consist  ?  The  Dithyrambic  chorus  itself  was  always 
mimetic,  even  from  the  first,  and  this  mimic  element  did  not 
arise  from  the  introduction  of  Satyrs  into  it  by  Arion, 
which  was  only  a  change  of  the  persons,  not  of  the  func- 
tions of  the  Dithyrambic  Chorus ;  what  feature  then  so 
much  distinguished  the  Dithyrambic  from  all  other  mimic 
choruses,  that  a  modification  of  it  could  be  called  a  lyrical 
Drama?  Aristotle  answers  the  question  ;  he  tells  us  that 
Tragedy  was  derived  OTTO  TUV  l%apxovT<*>v  TOV  Si0u/oajuj3oi> ; 
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, 

i 

•  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- 
phaeus 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  Ehapsodist  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  ia  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  /otn/^Soi,  a 
name  probably  derived  from  the  staff  (/ja|38oc)  or  branch 

of  laurel  or  myrtle,  which  was  the  symbol  of  their 


166  THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA. 

office,  and  q$rj  a  song ;  from  ipvos  they  were  called  a/ 
quasi  spvuSot ;  (though  other  derivations  of  pm^Soe  and 
apvqSbe  are  given  ;)  this  staff  was  called  aVtroKoe,  theaesacus, 
Sia  TO  aSetv  TOV  St^ojuerov.  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 
70S,  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,  \vritten  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  (tp/oa^w&i) 
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"  ;  (v7roK/Hv£<T0a«,  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  wnter  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  j 


.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  (u7roKpirjk),and  it  is  more  than 
probable  that  the  names  of  the  actors,  Trjowra-yomcmje,  &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 
(viroKpirai)  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  tZapxtiv  in  section  56,  we  may  re- 
member that  the  leader  of  the  Dithyramb  used  the  trochaic 

*  Plato  is  said  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  Dithji-amb,  and  we  collect  from  Aristotle  that  it 
was,  for  certainly  the  Dithyramb  itself  was  not  written  in 
any  regular  metre — the  exarchus  was  to  ah"  intents  and 
purposes,  either  an  aoadus  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 
countiy  by  the  lonians,  were  reduced,  like  the  native  La- 
conians,  to  the  inferior  situation  of  TriploiKot,  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  ^Egicores  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  ^Egicores  should  ascribe  their  freedom  from  political 
disabilities  to  their  tutelary  God,  whom  they  therefore  called 
'EXtvOepos  ;  and  in  later  times,  when  all  the  inhabitants  of 
Attica  were  on  a  footing  of  equality,  the  Grod  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  IleStatot,  or 


THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA.  171 

the  landed  aristocracy  of  the  interior,  who  were  for  an 
oligarchy  ;  the  UapaXoi,  or  inhabitants  of  the  coast,  who 
were  headed  by  Megacles.  and  were  for  a  mixture  of  oli- 
garchy and  democracy  ;  and  the  Atac/not  or  'YirfpaKpioi,  the 
highlanders.  who  were  for  a  democracy,  and  were  led  by  Pi- 
sistratus.  son  of  Hippocrates  ;  he  was  of  the  family  of  the 
Codrids,  born  at  Phila'idse,  near  Brauron.  and  therefore  by 
birth  a  Diacrian  ;  also  related  to  Solon,  who  had  taken  from 
the  Eupatrids  some  of  their  exclusive  prhileges,  and  had 
established  a  timocracy  in  place  of  the  previously  existing 
aristocracy.  Pisistratus.  having  possessed  himself  of  sove- 
reign power,  was  expelled  by  the  other  factions,  but  was 
soon  recalled  by  Megacles,  who  gave  him  his  daughter  in 
marriage.  The  manner  of  his  return  is  of  great  impoitance 
in  reference  to  the  present  subject :  a  beautiful  woman, 
named  Phya,  was  dressed  as  Minerva,  and  placed  in  a  cha- 
riot ;  heralds  went  before  her,  who  told  the  people  to  re- 
ceive with  good-will  Pisistratus,  whom  Athena  herself  was 
bringing  back  from  exile  to  her  own  Acropolis.  The  par- 
ties to  this  proceeding  were  ;  first,  Megacles,  an  Alcmaeonid, 
and  therefore  connected  with  the  worship  of  Bacchus; 
moreover,  he  was  the  father  of  the  Alcmaeon,  whose  son 
Megacles  married  Agarista,  daughter  of  Cleisthenes  of 
Sicyon,  and  had  by  her  Cleisthenes,  the  Athenian  dema- 
gogue, who  is  said  to  have  imitated  his  maternal  grand- 
father in  some  of  the  reforms  which  he  introduced  into  the 
Athenian  constitution,  particularly,  in  his  abolition  of  the 
Homeric  rhapsodes,  and  his  restitution  of  the  Tragic 
choruses  to  Bacchus.  Is  it  not  probable  that  Megacles  the 
elder  was  not  indifferent  to  the  policy  of  the  father  of  his 
grandson's  wife  in  this  respect !  The  other  party  was  Pi- 
sistratus, born  neaj  Brauron,  where  rhapsodic  recitations 


172  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

were  connected  with  the  worship  of  Bacchus ;  the  strong 
hold  of  his  party  was  the  Tetrapolis,  which  contained  the 
town  of  Oenoe,  which  was  mainly  instrumental  in  intro- 
ducing the  worship  of  Bacchus  into  Attica  ;  his  party  in- 
cluded the  Jilgicores  (who  have  been  considered  by  some  as 
identical  with  the  Diacrians),  and  these  were  the  original 
worshippers  of  Bacchus  ;  finally,  there  was  a  mask  of  Bac- 
chus at  Athens,  which  was  said  to  be  a  portrait  of  Pisis- 
tratus ;  so  that  on  the  whole,  he  was  deeply  interested  in 
the  establishment  of  the  rites  of  the  ^Egicores  as  a  part 
of  the  state  religion.  As  Phya,  being  a  garland  seller, 
must  have  been  well  known,  she  could  not  have  passed 
herself  off  on  the  Athenians  as  a  goddess ;  it  is  therefore 
evident,  that  the  ceremony  attending  the  return  of  Pisis- 
tratus  was,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  a  dramatic  repre- 
sentation, of  the  same  kind  with  that  part  of  the  Eumenides 
of  .ZEschylus,  in  which  Athena  is  introduced  in  a  chariot, 
recommending  to  the  Athenians  the  maintenance  of  the 
Areopagus. 

Thespis,  the  contemporary  of  Pisistratus,  generally  es- 
teemed the  inventor  of  Greek  Tragedy,  was  born  at  Icarius, 
a  Diacrian  deme,  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century 
B.  C.  His  birth-place  derived  its  name  from  the  father  of 
Erigone,  had  always  been  a  seat  of  the  religion  of  Bac- 
chus, and  the  origin  of  the  Athenian  Tragedy  and  Comedy 
has  been  confidently  referred  to  the  drunken  festivals  of  the 
place :  indeed  the  name  itself  may  probably  point  to  the 
old  mimetic  exhibitions  which  were  common  there.  (The 
improvements  of  Thespis  have  been  mentioned  in  Chapter 
2.)  It  appears,  then,  that  he  was  a  contemporary  of  Pisis- 
tratus and  Solon;  he  was  a  Diacrian,  and  consequently  a 
partizan  of  the  former ;  but  the  latter  was  violently  op- 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 


173 


posed  to  him  :  he  was  an  Icarian,  and  therefore  by  his  birth 
a  worshipper  of  Bacchus ;  he  was  an  uTroKpirrjc,  and  from  the 
subjects  of  his  recitations  (as  appears  from  the  titles  of  his 
Dramas)  a  rhapsode ;  here  we  again  have  the  union  of  Diony- 
sian  rites  with  rhapsodicalrecitations  which  we  have  discovered 
in  the  Brauronian  festival.  Whilst  he  carried  on  a  dialogue 
(by  means  of  its  coryphaeus)  with  the  chorus,  which  stood  on 
the  steps  of  the  thymele,  that  he  might  be  equally  elevated, 
he  was  placed  upon  a  table  (tAtdc),  which  was  thus  the  pre- 
decessor of  the  stage.  The  waggon  of  Thespis,  of  which 
Horace  writes,  probably  arose  from  some  confusion  between 
this  standing-place  for  the  actor  and  the  waggon  of  Susa- 
rion.  Themistius  tells  us  that  he  invented  a  prologue  and 
a  rhesis.  The  former  must  have  been  the  prooemium  which 
he  spoke  as  exarchus  of  the  Dithyramb  ;  the  latter  the  dia- 
logue between  himself  and  the  chorus  ;  lastly,  there  is  every 
reason  to  believe  that  he  did  not  confine  his  representations 
to  his  native  deme,  but  exhibited  at  Athens.  From  a  com- 
parison of  these  particulars  respecting  Thespis  with  the  cir- 
cumstances attending  the  return  of  Pisistratus,  it  appears, 
that  a  near  approximation  to  the  perfect  form  of  the  Greek 
Drama  took  place  in  the  time  of  Pisistratus  ;  all  those  con- 
cerned in  bringing  it  about  were  Diacrians,  or  connected 
with  the  worship  of  Bacchus  ;  the  innovations  were  either 
the  results  or  the  concomitants  of  an  assumption  of  poli- 
tical power  by  a  caste  of  the  inhabitants  of  Attica,  whose 
tutelary  God  was  Bacchus ;  and  were  in  substance  nothing 
but  an  union  of  the  old  choral  worship  of  Bacchus,  with 
an  offshoot  of  the  rhapsodical  recitations  of  the  old  epo- 
pceists. 

62.  The  formation  of  the  Epos  was  the  peculiar  property 
of  the  lonians,  of  Lyric  poetry  that  of  the  Dorians ;  so  long 


174  THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA. 

as  tragedy  or  the  tragic  choruses  existed  in  the  Pelopon- 
nese,  they  were  of  a  lyrical  nature  ;  in  this  form,  with  the 
Doric  dialect  and  a  lyrical  accompaniment,  they  were  trans- 
planted into  Attica ;  and  here,  Thespis,  an  Athenian,  and 
so  standing  in  the  middle  between  the  proper  lonians  and 
the  Dorians,  first  joined  to  them  the  Ionic  element  of  nar- 
ration, which,  if  not  quite  Ionic,  had  and  maintained  a  re- 
lationship with  the  Ionic,  even  in  the  language.  It  may  be 
remarked,  that  all  the  old  iambic  poets  wrote  strictly  in  the 
Ionic  dialect. 

63.  Pisistratus  naturally  encouraged  the  religion  of  his 
own  people,  the  Diacrians  ;  nor  was  it  strange  that  Solon, 
who  thought  he  had  given  the  lower  orders  power  enough, 
should  oppose  the  adoption  of  their  worship  as  a  part  of 
the  religion  of  the  state ;  for  in  those  days  the  religion 
and  the  privileges  of  a  caste  rose  and  fell  together.  It  may, 
however,  seem  strange,  that  Pisistratus,  who,  in  most  cases, 
adopted  the  policy  of  the  Sicyonian  Cleisthenes,  should 
encourage  the  rhapsodes,  whom  Cleisthenes  sedulously  put 
down  on  account  of  the  predilection  of  the  aristocracy  for 
the  Epos.  We  must  then  remember  that  Pisistratus  was 
a  Codrid,  and  therefore  a  Neleid,  even  bearing  the  name  of 
the  son  of  Nestor,  his  ancestor ;  he  was  also  born  in  the 
deme  Philaidae,  which  derived  its  name  from  Philseus,  one 
of  the  sons  of  Ajax,  and  thus  he  reckoned  Ajax  also 
among  his  ancestors ;  he  must  then  have  valued  the  poems 
which  described  the  wisdom  and  valour  of  his  ancestors ; 
by  introducing  also  into  the  Homeric  Poems  some  enco- 
miums on  the  Athenians,  he  added  to  his  popularity ;  it 
was  his  wish  also,  as  far  as  possible,  to  conciliate  his  kins- 
man Solon,  who  greatly  encouraged  the  rhapsodes,  and  was 
himself  one  of  those  writers  of  gnomic  poetry,  who  were 


THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA.  175 

the  successors  of  the  Epopoaists,  and  from  whose  writings 
the  Attic  Tragedians  modelled  their  dialogue.  May  not 
these  motives  have  induced  him  to  unite  the  old  Epic  ele- 
ment with  the  rites  of  the  Dionysiau  religion  I  May  not 
such  a  combination  have  been  suggested  by  his  early  recol- 
lections of  the  Brauronia  ;  Did  the  genius  of  the  Icarian 
plan  the  innovation  and  carry  it  into  effect  '  or,  is  the  name 
Thespis  a  mere  figment  derived  from  the  common  epithet  of 
the  Homeric  minstrel  \  But  whatever  cause  may  be  assigned 
for  the  union  of  the  rhapsody  with  the  cyclic  chorus,  it 
certainly  took  place  in  the  time  of  Pisistratus.  It  was  not, 
however,  exactly  the  Homeric  rhapsody  that  was  combined 
with  the  dithyramb  ;  (that  was  recited  by  itself  at  the  Pana- 
thenaea ;)  the  Homeric  metre  was  not  so  well  suited  for 
dialogue  as  the  Iambic  ;  recitations  of  gnomic  verses  in  this 
metre  were  already  common  ;  the  Thespian  rhapsode  then 
spoke  in  Iambics,  and  though  Aristotle  says  that  Tragedy 
was  originally  extemporaneous,  (avToax^taariKi].)  the  Tra- 
gedies of  Thespis  were  certainly  not  so,  if,  as  Donatus 
says,  they  were  committed  to  writing.  Bentley's  attempt  to  r  <  _ 
prove  the  spuriousness  of  the  lines  quoted  from  Thespis  by 
Plutarch  and  Julius  Pollux,  is  very  like  begging  the  ques- 
tion. He  assumes,  without  proof,  that  the  plays  of  Thespis 
were  satyrical  and  ludicrous,  and  then  because  some  lines 
quoted  by  Plutarch  have  a  serious  tone,  he  concludes  they 
could  not  have  been  written  by  him  ;  similarly,  because  the 
play  from  which  Pollux  quotes  was  clearly,  from  its  title,  a 
tragedy,  he  at  once  denies  its  genuineness  ;  the  two  other 
quotations,  especially  that  from  Plutarch,  have  internal 
evidence  in  their  favour;  the  latter  is  pervaded  by  the  same 
spirit  which  we  see  in  the  gnomic  Iambics  of  Simonides  the 
elder,  whom  Thespis  probably  imitated ;  the  forgeries  of 


176  THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

Heraclides  Ponticus  are  themselves  no  slight  proof  of  the 
originally  serious  character  of  the  Thespian  Drama  ;  nor 
can  any  argument  against  the  tragic  character  of  Thespis 
be  derived  from  the  lines  at  the  end  of  the  Wasps  of  Aris- 
tophanes ;  for  bpxtiaQai  is  used  to  signify  acting  in  general ; 
thus  Telestes,  JEschylus'*  actor,  is  said  to  have  expressed  by 
dancing  the  character  of  Eteocles,  in  the  Sept.  contra  Theb. 
With  regard  to  the  statement  of  Suidas  that  Phrynichus 
was  the  first  who  introduced  women  on  the  stage,  it  is  no 
reason  for  concluding  that  Thespis  never  wrote  a  Tragedy 
called  Alcestis,  for  he  might  have  handled  the  subject, 
so  as  not  to  introduce  Alcestis  herself.  The  fact  is,  that 
the  choral  plays,  from  which  the  Thespian  drama  was  formed, 
were  satyrical,  for  the  Dithyramb,  as  improved  by  Arion, 
was  performed  by  a  chorus  of  Satyrs,  and  most  probably 
Thespis  was  a  Satyric  Poet  before  he  became  a  Tragedian 
in  the  more  modern  sense  of  the  word.  Of  course,  there 
could  be  no  theatrical  contests  in  the  days  of  Thespis  ;  but 
the  dithyrambic  contests  were  important  enough  to  induce 
Pisistratus  to  build  a  temple,  in  which  the  victorious  choragi 
might  offer  up  their  tripods,  a  practice  which  the  victors 
with  the  tragic  chorus  subsequently  adopted. 

64.  It  is  generally  stated  that  there  were  only    three 
kinds  of  Greek  plays,  viz. :  Tragedy,  Comedy,  and  the  Sa- 
tyrical Drama ;   the  Satyrical  Drama  was,  however,  pro- 
perly a  subdivision   of  Tragedy,   of  which,  as  well  as  of 
Comedy,  there  were  also  other  subdivisions,  which  shall  be 
stated. 

65.  The  word  Tragedy — r/oayyS/a,  is  derived  from  r/oayoc 
and  w'Sq  ;  some  reasons  for  this  derivation  have  been  given 
before ;  another  may  be  added  ;  rpayog  is  a  synonyme  for 

Hesych.  the  goat-eared  attendant  of  Dionysus,  is 


THR    GRECIAV    DRAMA.  177 

called  by  the  name  of  the  animal  which  he  resembled,  just 
as  the  shepherd  was  called  by  the  name  of  the  animal, 
which  he  tended,  and  whose  skin  formed  his  clothing  ;  thus 
the  word  Tityrus  signifies,  according  to  Servius,  the  leading 
ram  of  the  flock,  according  to  others,  a  goat,  and  some 
have  supposed  it  to  be  another  form  of  Satyrus.  TpayySia, 
then,  in  this  sense,  is  not  the  song,  of  which  a  goat  was  the 
prize,  but  a  song  accompanied  by  a  dance  performed  by  per- 
sons in  the  guise  of  Satyrs,  consequently  a  satyric  dance ; 
and  it  has  been  already  shown  how  Tragedy  arose  from  such 
performances.  At  first  then,  Tragedy  and  the  Satyric 
Drama  were  one  and  the  same.  When,  however,  the  Tra- 
gedy of  Thespis  was  established,  and  Comedy  not  yet  in- 
troduced, the  common  people  missed  the  merriment  of  the 
country  satyrs,  and  complained  that  the  plays  had  nothing  to 
do  with  Bacchus  ;  the  prevalence  of  this  feeling  at  length 
induced  Pratinas  of  Phlius,  to  restore  the  Tragic  Chorus 
to  the  Satyrs,  and  to  write  Dramas,  which  were  the  same 
in  form  and  materials  with  the  Tragedy,  but  the  choruses 
of  which  were  composed  of  Satyrs,  and  the  dances  pyrrhio 
instead  of  gymnopsedic  :  thus  the  Satyric  Drama  was  onljr 
a  subdivision  of  Tragedy,  written  always  by  Tragedians, 
and  seldom  acted  but  along  with  Tragedies ;  it  has  been 
plausibly  conjectured  that  the  Satyrical  Drama  was  origi- 
nally acted  before  the  Tragedy. 

66.  The  Greek  Comedy  was  originally  a  country  festival, 
the  celebration  of  the  vintage,  when  the  rustics  went  from 
village  to  village,  some  in  carts,  who  uttered  the  abusive 
speeches,  with  which  the  Tragedy  of  Thespis  has  been,  per- 
haps unjustly,  saddled,  others  on  foot,  who  bore  aloft  the 
Phallic  emblem,  and  invoked  in  songs  Phales  the  comrade 
of  Bacchus  :  hence,  Aristotle  derived  KwjutuS/'a  from  ici^uij,  a 

N  x^ 


178  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

village,  and  q$ri.  It  may,  however,  and  perhaps  more  cor- 
rectly, be  derived  from  KW/XOC  and  ^'8/j.  Ko»juoe  signifies  a 
revel  continued  after  supper ;  hence  a  band  of  those  revel- 
lers, who,  after  supper,  rambled  through  the  streets  to  the 
sound  of  the  flute  or  lyre,  and  with  torches  in  their  hands; 
in  a  secondary  sense,  it  signifies  a  song  sung  either  by  a 
convivial  party,  or  at  the  Bacchic  feasts,  or  by  a  procession 
in  honor  of  a  victor  at  the  public  games ;  and  by  a  still 
farther  transition,  it  is  used  for  a  song  in  general ;  and  a  pe- 
culiar flute  tune,  together  with  its  corresponding  dance,  was 
known  by  this  name.  It  is  not  in  its  secondary  sense  of 
"  song1'  that  jcwju^S/a  is  derived  from  Ktu/uoc,  but  in  the  se- 
cond sense,  viz.  that  "  of  a  band  of  revellers ;"  thus  the 
Bacchic  reveller  was  called  a  iceoju^Soe,  sciz.  a  comus-singer, 
according  to  the  analogy  of  rpayySog,  i\apq$6g,  &c.  in 
which  the  first  part  of  the  compound  refers  to  the  per- 
former, the  second  to  the  song ;  and  as  rpay^ia  signifies  a 
song  of  satyrs,  so  Kw^Sfo  means  a  song  of  the  comus. 
This  view  of  the  case  is  confirmed  by  the  epithet  ^uy/cwjuoc, 
which  Dicseopolis  applies  to  Phales  as  the  companion  of 
Bacchus.  Acharn.  263. 

67.  The  Phallic  processions,  from  which  the  old  Comedy 
arose,  were  in  early  times  allowed  in  all  cities ;  probably, 
however,  they  soon  became  more  common  in  the  country, 
which  was  their  natural  abode  ;  and  if  Scheidner  is  right  in 
his  conjecture  that  there  were  two  sorts  of  Phallic  proces- 
sions, the  one  public,  the  other  private,  most  probably  the 
latter  never  found  their  way  into  the  great  towns.  Pasqui- 
nades of  the  coarsest  kind  formed  the  principal  part  of 
these  rural  exhibitions,  and  this  probably  was  the  reason 
why  Comedy  was  established  at  Athens  in  the  time  of 


THE   GRECIAN  DRAMA.  179 

Pericles  ;  for  the  demagogues*  could  think  of  no  better  way 
of  safely  attacking  their  political  opponents  than  by  in- 
troducing into  the  city  the  favourite  country  sports  of  the 
lower  orders,  and  then,  and  not  till  then,  did  the  perform- 
ance of  Comedies,  like  that  of  Tragedies,  become  a  public 
concern.  The  Comic  Chorus  was  originally  unprovided  with 
masks,  but  rubbed  their  faces  over  with  wine-lees  as  a  sub- 
stitute, hence  a  Comedian  is  also  called  r/ouy^Soc :  masks 
were  not  always  used  even  in  the  time  of  Aristophanes, 
who  acted  the  part  of  Cleon  without  one  ;  in  later  times, 
however,  it  was  considered  disreputable  to  go  in  any  comus 
without  a  mask. 

68.  The  Tragedy  and  Comedy  of  the  Greeks  are  "quite 
distinct,  and  had  an  entirely  different  origin.  Plato  con- 
siders Comedy  to  be  the  generic  name  for  all  dramatic  ex- 
hibitions which  tend  to  excite  laughter,  while  Tragedy  is  an 
imitation  of  the  noblest  life,  that  is,  of  the  actions  of  gods 

— .  . 

and  heroes.  Aristotle^s  definition  (which  shall  be  given  in 
his  Poetics)  is  more  perfect :  he  makes  the  distinction, 
which  Plato  leaves  to  be  inferred,  between  the  objects  of 
tragic  and  comic  imitation,  and  adds  to  it  the  constituent 
characteristic  of  Tragedy,  namely,  that  it  effects  by  means  | 
of  pity  and  terror  the  purgation  of  such  passions.  There 
is  one  particular  which  he  has  not  stated,  which  however  is 
due  rather  to  the  origin  of  Greek  Tragedy  than  to  its  es- 
sence, viz.  the  necessity  for  a  previous  acquaintance  on  the 
part  of  the  audience  with  the  plot  of  the  Tragedy ;  this  it 
is  which  chiefly  distinguishes  the  Tragedies  of  Sophocles 
from  those  of  Shakspeare.  Kurd's  definition  of  Tragedy 

*  It  is  remarkable  that  Comedy  thus  introduced  by  the  demagogues, 
was  afterwards  turned  against  themselves  ;  as,  for  instance,  by  Aris- 
tophanes against  Cleon. 


H 


180  THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA, 

is  a  mere  copy  of  Aristotle's;  Schiller  thus  defines  it: 
"  That  art  which  proposes  to  itself,  as  its  especial  object, 
the  pleasure  resulting  from  compassion." 

69.  If  all  the  prominent  characters  in  the  true  Tragedy 
were  gods  or  heroes,  it  follows  that  the  Htpaai  of  ^Eschylus, 
and  the  MtX7jrov  uAoxnc  and  3>oiviaaai  of  Phrynichus  were 
not  Tragedies  in  the  truest  sense,  and  must  be  referred  to 
the  class  of  Histories,  which  exist  in  all  countries  where  the 
Drama  is  much  cultivated,  as  a  subordinate  species  of  Tra- 
gedy :  the  other  Tragedies  may  be  called  myths  or  fables, 
and  bear  the  same  relation  to  the  true  stories  as  the  Epos 
bears  to  the  history  of  Herodotus. 

70.  In  the  course  of  time  Tragi-comedy  sprung  up  under 
the  fostering  care  of  Euripides,  which   was  probably  the 
forerunner  of  the  iXapoTpay^tai  of  Rhinthon,   Sopatrus, 
Sciras  and  Blsesus.     One  old  specimen  of  this  kind  of  play 
remains  in  the  "AAtojerrtc  of  Euripides,  which  was  performed 
as  the  Satyrical  Drama  of  a  Tragic  Trilogy,  438,  B.  C.  and 
probably  the  Orestes  was  another  of  the  same  sort.     It  re- 
sembled the  regular  Tragedy  in  its  outward  form,  but  con- 
tained some  comic  characters,  and  always  had  a  happy  ter- 
mination. 

71 .  A  Play  called  EtXwrte  01  lirl  Taivapu,  the  chorus  of 
which  consisted  of  Helots  dressed  in  goatskins,  has  been 
called  by  Herodian  a  satyrical  Drama ;  however  from  its 
being  ascribed  by  Athenseus  to  the  Comedian  Eupolis,  and 
from  the  purely  comic  and  criticising  tone  of  one  of  the 
fragments,  it  was  more  probably  a  regular  comedy  with  a 
political  reference,  not  unlike  the  AaKfSai'/xovfc  of  the  same 
author. 

72.  The  Comedy  of  the  Greeks   is    divided  into  three 
species,  or  rather  three  successive  variations  in  form,  viz. 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  181 

The  Old,  the  Middle,  and  the  New.  The  Old  was  the  re- 
sult of  a  successful  attempt  to  give  to  the  waggon-jests  of 
the  country  comus  a  particular  and  a  political  bias  ;  its  es- 
sence was  personal  satire,  not  merely  the  satire  of  descrip- 
tion, the  abuse  of  words  ;  but  the  satire  of  representation  ; 
upon  this  stock  Aristophanes  grafted  his  own  Pantagruelism, 
which  has  in  every  age  since  the  days  of  its  reproducer 
Rabelais  found  a  representative  —  Cervantes,  Swift,  Vol- 
taire, Sterne,  Quevedo,  Jean  Paul,  &c.  &c.  It  is  difficult 
to  draw  a  line  of  demarcation  between  the  writers  of  the 
Old  and  the  Middle  Comedy  ;  thus  Aristophanes  perhaps 
was  both  ;  but  as  to  the  Comedies  themselves,  we  may  con- 
clude on  the  authority  of  Platonius,  that  the  Middle 
Comedy  was  a  form  of  the  old,  and  differed  from  it  in  three 
particulars  :  it  had  no  chorus,  and  therefore  no  parabasis  — 
this  arose  from  the  inability  of  the  impoverished  state  to 
furnish  the  comic  poets  with  choragi:*  living  characters 
were  not  introduced  on  the  stage  —  this  was  owing  to  the 
want  of  energy  produced  by  the  temporary  subversion  of 
the  democracy  :  as  a  consequence  of  both  these  circum- 
stances, the  objects  of  its  ridicule  were  literary  rather  than 
political.  The  Old  Comedy  is  the  Comedy  of  Caricature  ; 
the  Middle,  that  of  Criticism  ;  the  former  may  be  com- 
pared to  the  Lampoon,  the  latter  to  the  Review.  The 
New  Comedy  commenced  in  the  time  of  Alexander  ;  we 
may  see  in  Plautus  and  Terence,  who  translated  the  Greek 
writers  of  this  class,  satisfactory  specimens  of  the  nature  of 


*  The  law,  rov  f*n  oitfAiorl  K«ju»3inr  Ti»a,  passed  about  404,  B.C.  dur- 
ing the  government  of  the  Thirty,  simply  forbade  the  introduction  of 
any  individual  on  the  stage  by  name  as  one  of  the  dramatis  persona  ; 
it  might  be  evaded  by  identifying  the  person  by  the  mask,  dress,  &c.  &c. 


182  THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA, 

this  branch  of  Comedy  ;  it  corresponded,  as  nearly  as  pos- 
sible, to  our  own  Comic  Drama,  especially  to  that  of  Far- 
quhar  and  Congreve,  which  Charles  Lamb  calls  the  Comedy 
of  Manners,  and  Hurd  the  Comedy  of  Character.  It  pro- 
bably arose  from  an  union  of  the  style  and  tone  of  the 
Euripidean  Dialogue,  with  the  subjects  and  characters  of 
the  later  form  of  the  Middle  Comedy. 

The  subjoined  general  view  of  the  rise  and  progress  of 
the  proper  Greek  Drama  may  assist  the  student. 


184 


THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA. 


73. 


TABLE  OF  DRAMATIC  CLASSIFICATION. 


DORIAN  ELEMENT. 


IONIAN  ELEMENT. 


Chorusw  in  honor  of  Apollo. 
Lyrical  Poetry  in  connexion  with  these  Choruses. 

Transfer  of  these  to  Bacchus. 
Tbc  Dithyramb,  with  a 
A  Satyrical  Chorus 


Rhapsodical  Recitation  of  Homer's  Poems. 


Unaccompanied  Recitation  of  Iambics. 


Flute  Accompaniment. 


ntroduced  by  Arion.  Unl 


ion  of  the  Choral  Worship  of  Bacchus,  with  Rhap. 
sodical  Recitations  at  the  Brauvonia. 


The  Dithyramb  becomes  Lyrical. 


The  Exarchi  recite  Iambic*. 


The  Ctrous  Song  at  the  Vintage, 


Union  of  the  Satyrical  Dithyramb,  with  Rhapsodica'         Union  of  the  Iambic  Lampoon  with  the  Cormn, 
Recitations,  i.  e.  of  the  la/jySoj;  with  the  0piafi/3oc.  establishment  of  a  regular  Comic  Choru*. 


Dialogue  between  the  Rhapsode  and  the  Chorus.  The  Old  Comedy,  or  Comedy  of  Caricature. 


Another  Actor  added  bv  jEsch 
The  jEschylcan  Trilogy. 


A  third  by  Sophocles  : 
The  perfect  Athenian  Tragedy. 


The  Middle  Comedy,  or  Comedy  of  Criticii 


The  New  Comody,  or  Comedy  of  Manner! 


Fint  Variety.    Srconii  I'tiried/.        Third  1'aricti/.  Fourth  Variety. 

The  Tragedy      The  Satyrical          The  Hjstory.        Tho  Tnnji-. 

proper.  Dram  >..  Corncily. 


THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA.  185 

74.  The  improvements  which  are  due  to  /Eschylus  are 
so  many  proofs  of  his  anti-democratical  spirit.     This  aris- 
tocratical  spirit,  and  departure  from  his  original  reverence 
for  the  religion  of  Bacchus,   which  was  so  beloved  by  the 
common  people,  was  occasioned   by  his  military  connexion 
with  the  Dorians,  and  the  love  which  he  then  acquired  for 
the  Dorian  character  and  institutions.     In  all  his  innova- 
tions there  appears  a  wish  to  diminish  the  choral  or  Bac- 
chic element  of  the  Tragedy,  and  to  aggrandize  the  other       ^^ 
part,  by  connecting  it  with   the  old  Homeric  Epos,  the/- 
darling  of  the  Aristocracy  ;  and  it  was  owing  to  this  that  he 
borrowed  so  little  from  the  Attic  traditions,   or  from  the . 
Heracleia  or  Theseis,  of  which  Sophocles  and  Euripides  so 
freely  availed  themselves  ;  (though  in  style  and  representa- 
tion, Sophocles  was  still  more  Homeric  than  ^Eschylus ;) 
his  breaking  up  the  dithyrambic  chorus  of  fifty  men,  which 
the  state  gave  him  as  the  basis  of  his  Tragedy,   into  sub- 
ordinate choruses,  one  or  more  of  which  he  employed  in  eacl 
play  of  his  trilogy,  is  another  proof  of  his  willingness  to 
abandon  all  reference  to  the  worship  of  Bacchus.    His  im- 
provement of  the  costume  was  a  part  of  the   same  plan,     * 
by  departing  from  the  dresses  worn  in  the  Bacchic  proces- 
sions ;  and  perhaps  the  invention  of  the  Trilogy  was  a  part 
of  his  attempt  to  make  the  Xoyoc,  or  theatrical  declamation^  i  , 
(spoken  from  the  XoytTov)  the  principal  part  in  his  Tragedy. 
This  may  be  shewn  thus  :  the  invention  of  a  TrpoXoyoc  and  a 
pjjerjc,  attributed  to  Thespis,  points  to  two  entrances  only 
of  the  Thespian  actor ;  the  TptXo-y'ia,  in  its  old  sense,  may 
have  been  originally  a  TrpuXoyoe,   and  two  Xoyoi   or  priatis 
instead  of  one ;  consequently,  an  increase  of  business  for 
the  vTTOKpirfa.     Now,  when  vEschylus  had  added  a  second 
actor,  each  of  these  Xoyot  became  a  StaXoyo^  or  S/aajua,  and 


18$  THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA. 

if  he  had  the  intentions  attributed  to  him,  he  would  na- 
turally expand  each  of  these  StaAoyoi  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  irpoXoyog  of  Thespis  was  subordinate  to  the 
prjaig,  so  the  first  play  in  a  trilogy  of  .ZEschylus  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  -iSCschylean  Tra- 
8e(ty>  and  the  Homeric  Epos,  is,_tliat  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.  ^Eschylus  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  JEschylus  to  Sophocles,  the  decision  did  not  imply  any 


THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA.  187 

disregard  of  the  ^Eschylean  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 
Triptolemus  was  probably  one  of  Sophocles1  plays  on  that 
occasion;  for  Pliny  says,  (H.N.  18.7.)  Sophoclis  Tripto- 
lemus ante  mortem  Alexandri  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  jEschylus  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  ^Eschylean 
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  JE,s- 
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    GKECIAN    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'  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 
JEschylu?  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  -^Eschylus 
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  I  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  Gorgias,  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-comedies,  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,  were  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   DHAMA.  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  Kcojuaarcu.  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  Barpaxot  for  his  custom 
of  introducing  grumbling  slaves  on  the  stage. 

90.  Different  countries  are  assigned  to  Aristophanes  as 
his   birth-place,    viz.,  Rhodes,    Egypt,   Naucratis,  JSgina ; 
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   DIIAMA. 

have  been  one  also  ;  his  efforts  for  the  good  of  Athens,  his 
ridicule  of  those  who  did  not  belong  to  the  old  Athenian 
(jtparptai,  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  ^Eginetan  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  Ranee  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.  If  3 

Callistratus  ;  it  is  one  of  the  most  wonderful  compositions 
in  any  language,  and  was  designed,  as  also  the  "  Amphia- 
raus,"  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  "  Thesmophoriazusae"  is  an  attack 
on  Euripides.  The  object  of  the  "  Ecelesiazusae,"  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  ^Eolosicon  and  Cocalus ;  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  -^Eolus  of 
Euripides ;  the  name  is  a  compound  of  the  name  of  Euri- 
pides1 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  dum  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 

of  Diphilus,  so  Terence  tells  us  that  he  introduced  into  the 
Adelphi  a  literal  translation  of  part  of  his  "ZwairoOviiaKov- 
rsg.  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  date  called  Come- 
dians:   Rhinthon  of  Tarentum  is  called  a  Comedian  by 
Suidas,  but  his  plays  seem  to  have  been  rather  phly-acogra- 
pMes,  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  ArjraTa 
from  the  AvQtvrrjpia,  and  thus  make  four,  held  in  the  sixth, 
seventh,  eighth,  and  ninth  months  of  the  Attic  year,  viz.  — 
The  TO.  KUT  aypovg,  the  festival  of  the  vintage,  held  in  Po- 
seideon,  the  sixth  month.  The  TO.  A?jvaTa,  held  in  Gameleon, 
the  seventh  month,  which  corresponded  to  the  Ionian  month 
Lemeon,  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  (Xrjvoc)  was 
erected.     The  TO.  AvOtari'ipta,  or  ret  tv  Atfj.vaig,  held  on  tho 
eleventh,  twelfth,  and  thirteenth  days  of  Anthesterion  ;  this 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  395 

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  ra  Iv  aarei  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  Lemea  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  jEschines  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  (\tiTovpytiv*), 
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  (lyKi>K\ioi 
t),  to  which  all  persons  whose  property  exceeded 


~i~~~tt"  *  jyP*ee  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  (ITTI^IITOL  ^uAije)  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°P°- 
SiSacTKaAoc),  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.  <tc.  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  didascalise  were  probably  compiled ;  the 
choragus  in  Comedy  consecrated  the  equipments  of  his 
chorus  ;  the  successful  poet  was  crowned  with  ivy,  as  also 
his  choragus  arid  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  A  ncient  with  that  of  the  Modern  Drama,  wo 
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  exarchtis  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  tho  order  and  manner  in  which  the 


198  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

chorus  made  their  entry  :  the  chorus  was  supposed  to  bo  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  Miiller ;)  when  the 
chorus  of  fifteen  entered  in  ranks  three  abreast,  it  was  said 
to  bo  divided  Kara  %vyci ;  when  it  was  distributed  into  three 
files  of  five,  it  was  said  to  be  Kara  arot^ovQ  ;  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  strophic  and  anti-strophic  form  of  most 
of  the  choral  odes,  we  discern  the  traces  of  the  lyric  tra- 
gedies of  Stcsichorus.  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 
7?Y>oAoyoe  before  the  chorus  came  on  the  stage,  and  held  a 
pfjcrie,  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  tho  more  perfect  tra- 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  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  ly-play,  and  making  J 
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  < 

l 


200 


THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 


Epos  is  a  quiet  representation  of  'a  march  of  events.  The 
Poet  narrates  either  serious  or  cheerful  incidents,  but  ho 
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  tho  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  party. 

98.  Tragic  and  Comic  arc  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  tho 
direction  of  the  mental  powers  to  an  object  or  purpose  ;  as 
earnest,  carried  to  the   highest  degree,  is  tho  essence  of 
Tragedy,  so  sport  is  of  Comedy.     The  elder  Comedy  of  the 
Greeks  was   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  oftJic  antiques,  which,  if  not  in  the  originals,  at!  ^4  y 
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."" 

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  '  /  '  J. 
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 ;  Corneille  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 
I  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 
j  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  Eumenides  of  JEschylus,  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  .  i 

and  Time  from  the  Unity  of  Action  ;  thus,  he  says,  "  there  ^  j^^Ji 
must  be  Unity  of  Place,  for  a  single  action  cannot  be  in  J$Zuju<&  k 
progress  in  several  places  at  once ;"  he   forgot  that  thero 
may  be  a  number  of  subordinate  actions,  and  what  should 
hinder  these  from  proceeding  in  several  places  2      "  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  how  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,  dithyrarnbics,  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  |u<'//»]<T£c  TO  avvo\ov)  ;  differing,  however,  from  each 
other  in  three  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  voice  ;  so  with  respect  to  the  arts  above- 
mentioned,  rhythm,  words,  and  melody  (pu0/uoe,  \OJOQ,  upfjio- 
v/a),  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  siini- 


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  Epopceia  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  Socratic  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  maJcing  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  uso 
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  sonio  of  these, 


THE   GRECIAN   DEAMA.  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  (ETTEI  Se  jutjuoui/rat  ol  jujjuov(uevot  Trparrovrac),  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  letter  than  they 
actually  are,  or  worse,  or  exactly  as  they  are :  just  as,  in 
painting,  the  pictures  of  Polygnotus  wrere  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.  This  may  be  the  case  with  dancing ;  with  the 
music  of  the  flute,  and  of  the  lyre ;  and  also,  with  the 
poetry  which  employs  icords,  or  verse,  only,  without  melody 
or  rhythm :  thus,  Homer  has  drawn  men  superior  to  wrhat 
they  are ;  Cleophon,  as  they  are  ;  Hegemon  the  Thasian,  the 
inventor  of  parodies,  and  Ficochares,  the  author  of  the 
Deliad,  worse  than  they  are. 

So,  again,  with  respect  to  dithyramlics  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,  letter. 

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  olject,  and  by  the  same 


208  TJIR   GRECIAN    DUAMA. 

means,  may  do  it  cither  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  (tv  olc  n,  K<H  a,  KOI  u>e)  :  so  that  Sophocles  \&,  in  one 
respect,  an  imitator  of  the  same  kind  \vit\iHomer,  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  Epicharmus  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  Kwjurj,  the  Attic, 
ATJJUOC  ;  and  that  Comedians  were  so  called,  not  from  »cwjua- 
£EIV — to  revel — but  from  their  strolling  about  the  KW/UKU,  or 
villages,  before  they  were  tolerated  in  the  city.  They  say, 
farther,  that  to  do,  or  act,  they  express  by  the  word 
the  Athenians  by  TT/HITTHI'. 

And  thus  much  as  to  the  differences  of  imitation 
how  many,  and  what  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,  2dlv, 
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  two  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 


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  (iaju/3<£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  ((T^r^ara)  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  Dithyrambic  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.  (n-oXXac  f/fTa/3oXae  /uera- 
fia\ovaa  rj  rpaj^ia)  reposed  at  length  in  the  completion  of 
its  proper  form.  ^Eschylus  first  added  a  second  actor :  he  j 
also  abridged  the  chorus,  and  made  the  dialogue  the  prin-j 
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  it«  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 
(Sto  TO  crarvpiKriv  KOI  6p\r]<mK<i)Ttpav  uvai  rrjv  Tro/r/ertv)  ;  but 
when  the  dialogue  was  formed,  nature  itself  pointed  out  the 
proper  metre.  For  the  iambic  is,  of  all  metres,  the  most 
colloquial  (juaXttrra  jap  \SKTIKOV  tart)  ;  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  even"  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  pa  infill  nor  destructive  (TO  jap 


212  THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 


•yaXoTov  t'or/v  ajuaprrjjua  n  —  KOI  ov  fyQapTiKov).  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  Pkormis  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.r^Tragedy,  then,  A 
is  an  imitation  of  an  action  that  is  importanf^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- 
sionsTx  ("Eortv  ovv  rpayqcla  jui'jUijcrte  Trpa^twt;  cnrouSatae  lau 
TfA£ui£,  fiiytvoG  f\ov<rrjg'  TjoutTjUtvy  \6yty,  ^wpig  Itcaorou  rOjv 
flcwv  tv  role  juopiote,  cpwvrcjv,  icai  ou  Si'  aTra-yytXtac,  Si'  fXtou 
Kai  0oj3ou  TTipaivovaa  TTJV  TUV  TOIOUTWI;  Tra^/^uarwv  Kadap- 
aiv.) 

ty 2)kai'.<.J'aU.e  Ianftu<w>:rl  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  melopccia  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  unhapplness  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, 
(jj&Qog,  »cat  i]drj,  KCU  At'^te,  Kal  Stavota,  KOI,  oipig,  KCU  fjaXo- 
Troua.)  Of  these  parts,  two  relate  to  the  means,  one  to  the 
manner,  and  three  to  the  object  of  imitation.  And  these 
are  all.  These  specific  parts  have  been  employed  by  most 
poets,  and  are  to  be  found  in  (almost)  every  tragedy. 

But  of  all  these  parts  the  most  important  is  the  combina- 
tion of  incidents,  or  the  fable:  because  Tragedy  is  an  imi- 
tation, not  of  men,  but  of  actions, — of  life,  of  happiness, 
and  unhappiness :  for  happiness  consists  in  action,  and  the 
supreme  good  itself,  the  very  end  of  life,  is  action  of  a  cer- 
tain kind, — not  quality.  Now  the  manners  of  men  consti- 
tute only  their  quality  or  characters  ;  but  it  is  by  their  ac- 
tions that  they  are  happy,  or  the  contrary.  Tragedy,  there- 
fore, does  not  imitate  action,  for  the  sake  of  imitating  man- 
ners, but  in  the  imitation  of  action,  that  of  manners  is  of 
course  involved.  So  that  the  action  and  tlie  fable  are  the 
end  of  Tragedy  ;  and  in  every  thing  the  end  is  of  principal 
importance. 

Again — Tragedy  cannot  subsist  without  action;  without 
manners  it  may  :  the  tragedies  of  most  modern  poets  have 
this  defect ;  a  defect  common,  indeed,  among  poets  in 
general.  As  among  painters  also,  this  is  the  case  with 
Zeuxis,  compared  with  Polygnotus  :  the  latter  excels  in  the 


THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA.  215 

expression  of  the  manners  ;  there  is  no  such  expression  in 
the  pictures  of  Zeuxis. 

Farther ;  suppose  any  one  to  string  together  a  number 
of  speeches,  in  which  the  manners  are  strongly  marked,  the 
language  and  the  sentiments  well  turned;  this  will  not  be 
sufficient  to  produce  the  proper  effect  of  Tragedy :  that  end 
will  much  rather  be  answered  by  a  piece,  defective  in  each 
of  those  particulars,  but  furnished  with  a  proper  fable  and 
contexture  of  incidents.  Just  as  in  painting,  the  most 
brilliant  colours  spread  at  random,  and  without  design,  will 
give  far  less  pleasure  than  the  simplest  outline  of  a  figure. 

Add  to  this,  that  those  parts  of  Tragedy,  by  means  of 
which  it  becomes  most  interesting  and  affecting,  are  parts  of 
the  fable;  I  mean  revolutions  and  discoveries. 

As  a  farther  proof,  adventurers  in  tragic  writing  are 
sooner  able  to  arrive  at  excellence  in  the  language,  and  the 
manners,  than  in  the  construction  of  a  plot ;  as  appears 
from  almost  all  our  earlier  poets.  The  fable,  then,  is  the 
principal  part,  the  soul,  as  it  were,  of  Tragedy ;  and  the 
manners  are  next  in  rank ;  Tragedy  being  an  imitation  of 
an  action,  and  through  that,  principally,  of  the  agents. 

In  the  third  place  stand  the  sentiments.  To  this  part  it 
belongs  to  say  such  things  as  are  true  and  proper  ;  which,  in 
the  dialogue,  depends  on  the  political  and  rhetorical  arts ; 
for  the  ancients  made  their  characters  speak  in  the  style  of 
political  and  popular  eloquence ;  but  now  the  rhetorical 
manner  prevails. 

The  manners  are  whatever  manifests  the  disposition  of  the 
speaker.  There  are  speeches,  therefore,  which  are  without 
manners,  or  character;  as  not  containing  any  thing  by 
which  the  propensities  or  aversions  of  the  person  who  delivers 
them  can  be  known.  The  sentiments  comprehend  whatever 


216  THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

is  said ;  whether  proving  any  thing,  affirmatively,  or  nega- 
tively, or  expressing  some  general  reflection,  &c. 

Fourth,  in  order,  is  the  diction — the  expression  of  the 
sentiments  by  words  ;  the  power  and  effect  of  which  is  the 
same,  whether  in  verse  or  prose. 

Of  the  remaining  two  parts,  the  music  stands  next ;  of 
all  the  pleasurable  accompaniments  and  embellishments  of 
Tragedy,  the  most  delightful. 

The  decoration  has  also  a  great  effect,  but,  of  all  the 
parts,  is  most  foreign  to  the  art.  For  the  power  of  Tra- 
gedy is  felt  without  representation,  and  actors ;  and  the 
beauty  of  the  decorations  depends  more  on  the  art  of  the 
mechanic,  than  on  that  of  the  poet. 

VII. — These  things  being  thus  adjusted,  let  us  go  on  to 
examine  in  what  manner  the  Fable  should  be  constructed, 
since  this  is  the  first,  and  most  important  part  of  Tragedy. 
"-  Now  we  have  defined  Tragedy  to  be  an  imitation  of  an 
action  that  is  complete,  and  entire  ;  and  that  has  also  a  cer- 
tain magnitude  ;  for  a  thing  may  be  entire,  and  a  whole,  and 
yet  not  be  of  any  magnitude. 

"  1 .  By  entire,  I  mean  that  which  has  a  beginning,  a  middle, 
and  an  end.  A  beginning  is  that  which  does  not,  necessarily, 
suppose  any  thing  before  it,  but  which  requires  something  to 
follow  it.  An  end,  on  the  contrary,  is  that  which  supposes 
something  to  precede  it,  either  necessarily  or  probably  ;  but 
which  nothing  is  required  to  follow.  A  middle  is  that  which 
both  supposes  something  to  precede,  and  requires  some- 
thing to  follow.  The  poet,  therefore,  who  would  construct 
his  fable  properly,  is  not  at  liberty  to  begin,  or  end,  where 
lie  pleases,  but  must  conform  to  these  definitions. 

2.  Again :  whatever  is  beautiful,  whether  it  be  an  animal, 
or  any  other  thing  composed  of  different  parts,  must  not 


THE   GRECIAX   DRAMA.  21? 

only  have  those  parts  arranged  in  a  certain  manner,  but 
must  also  be  of  a  certain  magnitude  ;  for  beauty  consists  in 
magnitude  and  order.  Hence  it  is  that  no  very  minute  ani- 
mal can  be  beautiful ;  the  eye  comprehends  the  whole  too 
instantaneously  to  distinguish  and  compare  the  parts ; — 
neither,  on  the  contrary,  can  one  of  a  prodigious  size  be 
beautiful  ;  because,  as  all  its  parts  cannot  be  seen  at  once, 
the  whole,  the  unity  of  object,  is  lost  to  the  spectator;  as 
it  would  be,  for  example,  if  he  were  surveying  an  animal  of 
many  miles  in  length.  As,  therefore,  in  animals  and  other 
objects,  a  certain  magnitude  is  requisite,  but  that  magni- 
tude must  be  such  as  to  present  a  whole  easily  comprehended 
by  the  eye;  so,  in  the  fable,  a  certain  length  is  requisite,  but 
that  length  must  be  such  as  to  present  a  whole  easily  com- 
prehended by  the  memory. 

With  respect  to  the  measure  of  this  length — if  referred 
to  actual  representation  in  the  dramatic  contests,  it  is  a 
matter  foreign  to  the  art  itself:  for  if  a  hundred  tragedies 
were  to  be  exhibited  in  concurrence,  the  length  of  each  per- 
formance must  be  regulated  by  the  hour-glass  ;  a  practice 
of  which,  it  is  said,  there  have  formerly  been  instances. 
But  if  we  determine  this  measure  by  the  nature  of  the  thing 
itself,  the  more  extensive  the  fable,  consistently  with  the 
clear  and  easy  comprehension  of  the  whole,  the  more  beau- 
tiful will  it  be,  with  respect  to  magnitude. — In  general,  we 
may  say,  that  an  action  is  sufficiently  extended,  when  it  is 
long  enough  to  admit  of  a  change  of  fortune  from  happy 
to  unhappy,  or  the  reverse,  brought  about  by  a  succession, 
necessary  or  probable,  of  well-connected  incidents. 

VIII. — A.  fable  is  not  one,  as  some  conceive,  merely  be- 
cause the  hero  of  it  is  one.  For  numberless  events  happen 
to  one  man,  many  of  which  are  such  as  cannot  be  connected 


218  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

into  one  event ;  and  so,  likewise,  there  are  many  actions  of 
one  man  which  cannot  be  connected  into  any  one  action. 
Hence  appears  the  mistake  of  all  those  poets  who  have 
composed  Herculeids,  Theseids,  and  other  poems  of  that 
kind.  They  conclude,  that  because  Hercules  was  one,  so 
also  must  be  the  fable  of  which  he  is  the  subject.  But 
Homer,  among  his  many  other  excellencies,  seems  also  to 
have  been  perfectly  aware  of  this  mistake,  either  from  art 
or  genius.  For  when  he  composed  his  Odyssey,  he  did  not 
introduce  all  the  events  of  his  hero's  life,  such,  for  instance, 
as  the  wound  he  received  upon  Parnassus — his  feigned  mad- 
ness when  the  Grecian  army  was  assembling,  &c. — events, 
not  connected,  either  by  necessary  or  probable  consequence, 
with  each  other ;  but  he  comprehended  those  only  which 
have  relation  to  one  action ;  for  such  we  call  that  of  the 
Odyssey. — And  in  the  same  manner  he  composed  his  Iliad. 

As,  therefore,  in  other  mimetic  arts,  one  imitation  is  an 
imitation  of  one  thing,  so  here,  the  fable,  being  an  imitation 
of  an  action,  should  be  an  imitation  of  an  action  that  is  one 
and  entire;  the  parts  of  it  being  so  connected,  that  if  any 
one  of  them  be  either  transposed,  or  taken  away,  the  whole 
will  be  destroyed  or  changed  :  for  whatever  may  be  either 
retained,  or  omitted,  without  making  any  sensible  differ- 
ence, is  not  properly  a  part. 

IX. — It  appears,  farther,  from  what  has  been  said,  that 
it  is  not  the  poet's  province  to  relate  such  things  as  have  ac- 
tually happened,  but  such  as  might  have  happened — such  as 
are  possible,  according  either  to  probable  or  necessary  con- 
sequence. For  it  is  not  by  writing  in  verse  or  prose,  that 
the  historian  and  the  poet  are  distinguished  :  the  work  of 
Herodotus  might  be  versified  ;  but  it  would  still  be  a  species 
of  history,  no  less  with  metre,  than  without.  They  are  dis- 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  219 

tinguished  by  this,  that  the  one  relates  what  has  been,  the 
other  what  might  be.  On  this  account,  poet ry  is  a  more 
philosophical,  and  a  more  excellent  thing  than  history  ;  for 
poetry  is  chiefly  conversant  about  general  truth ;  history 
about  particular.  In  what  manner,  for  example,  any  per- 
son of  a  certain  character  would  speak,  or  act,  probably,  or 
necessarily — this  is  general;  and  this  is  the  object  of  poetry, 
even  while  it  makes  use  of  particular  names.  But  what 
Alcibiades  did,  or  what  happened  to  him — this  is  particular 
truth. 

With  respect  to  Comedy,  this  is  now  become  obvious ;  for 
here,  the  poet,  when  he  has  formed  his  plot  of  probable  in- 
cidents, gives  to  his  characters  whatever  names  he  pleases  ; 
and  is  not,  like  the  iambic  poets,  particular,  and  personal. 

Tragedy,  indeed,  retains  the  use  of  real  names ;  and  the 
reason  is,  that,  what  we  are  disposed  to  believe,  we  must 
think  possible  :  now  what  has  never  actually  happened,  we 
are  not  apt  to  regard  as  possible  ;  but  what  has  been  is  un- 
questionably so,  or  it  could  not  have  been  at  all.  There 
are,  however,  some  tragedies,  in  which  one  or  two  of  the 
names  are  historical,  and  the  rest  feigned :  there  are  even 
some,  in  which  none  of  the  names  are  historical ;  such  is 
Agatho's  tragedy  called  the  The  Floicer,  for  in  that  all  is 
invention,  both  incidents  and  names ;  and  yet  it  pleases.  It 
is  by  no  means,  therefore,  essential,  that  a  poet  should  con- 
fine himself  to  the  known  and  established  subjects  of  tra- 
gedy. Such  a  restraint  would,  indeed,  be  ridiculous  ;  since 
even  those  subjects  that  are  known,  are  known,  compara- 
tively, but  to  few,  and  yet  are  interesting  to  all. 

From  all  this  it  is  manifest,  that  a  poet  should  be  a  poet, 
or  maker  of  fables,  rather  than  of  verses ;  since  it  is  imitation 
that  constitutes  the  poet,  and  of  this  imitation  actions  are 


220  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

the  object :  nor  is  he  the  less  a  poet,  though  the  Incidents 
of  his  fable  should  chance  to  be  such  as  have  actually  hap- 
pened ;  for  nothing  hinders,  but  that  some  true  events  may 
possess  that  probability,  the  invention  of  which  entitles  him 
to  the  name  of  poet. 

Of  simple  fables  or  actions  the  episodic  are  the  worst.  I 
call  that  an  episodic  fable  (tTrtio-oStwSi)  /uuflov),  the  episodes 
of  which  follow  each  other  without  any  probable  or  neces- 
sary connexion  ;  a  fault  into  which  bad  poets  are  betrayed 
by  their  want  of  skill,  and  good  poets  by  the  players  :  for 
in  order  to  accommodate  their  pieces  to  the  purposes  of 
rival  performers  in  the  dramatic  contests,  they  spin  out  the 
action  beyond  their  powers,  and  are  thus  frequently  forced 
to  break  the  connexion  and  continuity  of  its  parts. 

But  Tragedy  is  an  imitation,  not  only  of  a  complete  action, 
but  also  of  an  action  exciting  pity  and  terror.  Now  that  pur- 
pose isbest  answered  by  such  events  as  are  not  only  unexpected, 
but  unexpected  consequences  of  eacJi  other:  for,  by  this  means 
they  will  have  more  of  the  wonderful,  than  if  they  appeared 
to  be  the  effects  of  chance  ;  since  we  find,  that  among  events 
merely  casual,  those  are  the  most  wonderful  and  striking 
which  seem  to  imply  design :  as  when,  for  instance,  the 
statue  of  Mitys  at  Argos  killed  the  very  man  who  had 
murdered  Mitys,  by  falling  down  upon  him  as  he  was  sur- 
veying it ;  events  of  this  kind  not  having  the  appearance  of 
accident.  It  follows,  then,  that  such  fables  as  are  formed 
on  these  principles  must  be  the  best. 

X. — Fables  are  of  two  sorts,  simple  and  complicated 
(Elcrl  SE  TUV  (Jiv9(t)v  ol  jutv  <<7rAo7,  ot  <5e  TreTrAcyjutvo/)  ;  for  so 
also  are  the  actions  themselves  of  which  they  are  imitations. 
An  action  (having  the  continuity  and  unity  prescribed)  I 
call  simple,  when  its  catastrophe  is  produced  without  either 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  221 

revolution  or  discovery ;  complicated,  when  with  one,  or  both. 
And  these  should  arise  from  the  structure  of  the  fable  itself, 
so  as  to  be  the  natural  consequences,  necessary  or  probable, 
of  what  has  preceded  in  the  action.  For  there  is  a  wide 
difference  between  incidents  that  fbflow/roflft,  and  incidents 
that  follow  only  after,  each  other. 

XI. — A  revolution  (TrepnrtTtia),  is  a  change  into  the  reverse 
of  what  is  expected  from  the  circumstances  of  the  action  ; 
and  that,  produced,  as  we  have  said,  by  probable  or  neces- 
sary consequence. 

Thus,  in  the  (Edlpus  Tyrannus,  the  messenger,  meaning 
to  make  GEdipus  happy,  and  to  relieve  him  from  the  dread 
he  was  under  with  respect  to  his  mother,  by  making  known 
to  him  his  real  birth,  produces  an  effect  directly  contrary  to 
his  intention.  Thus,  also,  in  the  tragedy  of  Lynceus — Lyn- 
ceus  is  led  to  suffer  death,  Danaus  follows  to  inflict  it ;  but 
the  event  resulting  from  the  course  of  the  incidents  is,  that 
Danaus  is  killed,  and  Lynceus  saved. 

A  discovery  (avayvwpims),  as,  indeed,  the  word  implies, 
is  a,  change  from  unknoicn  to  known,  happening  between  those    Q 
charactcrs  whose  happiness,  or  unhappiness,  forms  the  ca- 
tastrophe of  the  drama,  and  terminating  in  friendship  or 
enmity. 

The  best  sort  of  discovery  is  that  which  is  accompanied 
by  a  revolution,  as  in  the  OEdipus. 

There  are  also  other  discoveries  ;  for  inanimate  things  of 
any  kind  may  be  recognized  in  the  same  manner  ;  and  we 
may  discover  whether  such  a  particular  thing  was,  or  was 
not,  done  by  such  a  person  :  but  the  discovery  most  appro- 
priated to  the  fable  and  the  action  is  that  above  defined  ; 
because  such  discoveries  and  revolutions  must  excite  either 
pity  or  terror ;  and  Tragedy  we  have  defined  to  be  an  imi- 


222  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

tation  of  pitiable  and  terrible  actions  :  and  because,  also,  by 
them  the  event,  happy  or  unhappy,  is  produced. 

Now  discoveries,  being  relative  things,  are  sometimes  of 
one  of  the  persons  only,  the  other  being  already  known  ;  and 
sometimes  they  are  reciprocal :  thus,  Iphigenia  is  discovered 
to  Orestes  by  the  letter  which  she  charges  him  to  deliver,  and 
Orestes  is  obliged,  by  other  means,  to  make  himself  known 
to  her.  These  then  are  two  parts  of  the  fable — revolution 
and  discovery.  There  is  yet  a  third,  which  we  denominate 
disasters  (iraOog).  The  two  former  have  been  explained. 
Disasters  comprehend  all  painful  or  destructive  actions ;  the 
exhibition  of  death,  bodily  anguish,  wounds,  and  every 
thing  of  that  kind. 

XII. — The  parts  of  Tragedy  which  are  necessary  to  con- 
stitute its  quality,  have  been  already  enumerated.  Its  parts 
of  quantity — the  distinct  parts  into  which  it  is  divided — are 
these :  prologue,  episode,  exode,  and  chorus ;  which  last  is 
also  divided  into  the  parode,  and  the  stasimon.  These  are 
common  to  all  tragedies.  The  commoi  are  found  in  some 
only. 

The  prologue  is  all  that  part  of  a  Tragedy  which  precedes 
the  parode  of  the  chorus. 

The  episode,  all  that  part  which  is  included  between  entire 
choral  odes.  The  exode,  that  part  which  has  no  choral  ode 
after  it. 

Of  the  choral  part,  the  parode  is  the  first  speech  of  the 
whole  chorus  :  the  stasimon  includes  all  those  choral  odes  that 
are  without  anapaests  and  trochees. 

The  commas  is  a  general  lamentation  of  the  chorus  and 
the  actors  together  (Ko^oc  SE,  0/oijvoe  KOIVOQ  x°/°°"  K<"  <*7r<* 
ffK»jvT)c).  Such  are  the  separate  parts  into  which  Tragedy 
is  divided.  Its  parts  of  quality  were  before  explained. 


THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA.  223 

XIIL — The  order  of  the  subject  leads  us  to  consider,  in 
the  next  place,  what  the  poet  should  aim  at,  and  what  avoid, 
in  the  construction  of  his  fable  ;  and  by  what  means  the 
purpose  of  Tragedy  may  be  best  effected. 

Now  since  it  is  requisite  to  the  perfection  of  a  tragedy, 
that  its  plot  should  be  of  the  complicated,  not  of  the  simple 
kind,  and  that  it  should  imitate  such  actions  as  excite  terror 
and  pity  (this  being  the  peculiar  property  of  the  tragic 
imitation),  it  follows  evidently,  in  the  first  place,  that  the 
change  from  prosperity  to  adversity  should  not  be  repre- 
sented as  happening  to  a  virtuous  character  ;  for  this  raises 
disgust,  rather  than  terror  or  compassion.  Neither  should 
the  contrary  change  from  adversity  to  prosperity  be  exhi- 
bited in  a  vicious  character :  this,  of  all  plans,  is  the  most 
opposite  to  the  genius  of  Tragedy,  having  no  one  property 
that  it  ought  to  have ;  for  it  is  neither  gratifying  in  a  moral 
view,  nor  affecting,  nor  terrible.  Nor,  again,  should  the  fall 
of  a  very  bad  man  from  prosperous  to  adverse  fortune  be 
represented  :  because,  though  such  a  subject  may  be  pleasing 
from  its  moral  tendency,  it  will  produce  neither  pity  nor  ter- 
ror. For  our  pity  is  excited  by  misfortunes  undeservedly 
suffered,  and  our  terror  by  some  resemblance  between  the 
sufferer  and  ourselves.  Neither  of  these  effects  will,  there- 
fore, be  produced  by  such  an  event. 

There  remains  then  for  our  choice  the  character  between 
these  extremes ;  that  of  a  person  neither  eminently  virtuous 
or  just,  nor  yet  involved  in  misfortune  by  deliberate  vice,  or 
villany,  but  by  some  error  of  human  frailty  :  and  this  per- 
son should,  also,  be  some  one  of  high  fame  and  flourishing 
prosperity.  For  example,  (Edipus,  Thyestes,  or  other  illus- 
trious men  of  such  families. 

Hence  it  appears,  that,  to  be  well  constructed,  a  fable, 


22-i  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

contrary  to  the  opinion  of  some,  should  be  single,  rather 
than  double ;  that  the  change  of  fortune  should  not  be  from 
adverse  to  prosperous,  but  the  reverse ;  and  that  it  should 
be  the  consequence,  not  of  vice,  but  of  some  great  frailty, 
in  a  character  such  as  has  been  described,  or  letter  rather 
than  worse. 

These  principles  are  confirmed  by  experience  ;  for  poets 
formerly  admitted  almost  any  story  into  the  number  of  tra- 
gic subjects  ;  but  now,  the  subjects  of  the  best  tragedies  are 
confined  to  a  few  families — to  Alcmceon,  (Edipus,  Orestes, 
Meleager,  Thyestes,  TelepJms,  and  others,  the  sufferers,  or 
the  authors,  of  some  terrible  calamity. 

The  most  perfect  tragedy,  then,  according  to  the  princi- 
ples of  the  art,  is  of  this  construction.  Whence  appears 
the  mistake  of  those  critics  who  censure  Euripides  for  this 
practice  in  his  tragedies,  many  of  which  terminate  unhap- 
pily ;  for  this,  as  we  have  shewn,  is  right.  And,  as  the 
strongest  proof  of  it,  we  find  that  upon  the  stage,  and  in 
the  dramatic  contests,  such  tragedies,  if  they  succeed,  have 
always  the  most  tragic  effect :  and  Euripides,  though  in  other 
respects  faulty  in  the  conduct  of  his  subjects,  seems  clearly 
to  be  the  most  tragic  of  all  poets. 

I  place  in  the  second  rank  that  kind  of  fable  to  which 
some  assign  the  first ;  that  which  is  of  a  double  construction, 
like  the  Odyssey,  and  also  ends  in  two  opposite  events,  to 
the  good,  and  to  the  bad,  characters.  That  this  passes  for 
the  best,  is  owing  to  the  weakness  of  the  spectators,  to 
whose  wishes  the  poets  accommodate  their  productions. 
This  kind  of  pleasure,  however,  is  not  the  proper  pleasure  of 
Tragedy,  but  belongs  rather  to  Comedy ;  for  there,  if  even 
the  bitterest  enemies,  like  Orestes,  and  JEgisthus,  are  intro- 
duced, they  quit  the  scene  at  last  in  perfect  friendship,  and 
no  blood  is  shed  on  either  side. 


THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA.  225 

XIV. — Terror  and  pity  may  be  raised  by  the  decoration — 
the  mere  spectacle ;  but  they  may  also  arise  from  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  action  itself ;  which  is  far  preferable,  and 
shews  a  superior  poet.  For  the  fable  should  be  so  con- 
structed, that,  without  the  assistance  of  the  sight,  its  inci- 
dents may  excite  horror  and  commiseration  in  those  who 
hear  them  only  :  an  effect  which  every  one,  who  hears  the 
fable  of  the  GEdipus,  must  experience.  But  to  produce  this 
effect  by  means  of  the  decoration,  discovers  want  of  art  in 
the  poet ;  who  must  also  be  supplied  by  the  public  with  an 
expensive  apparatus. 

As  to  those  poets  who  make  use  of  the  decoration  in  or- 
der to  produce,  not  the  terrible,  but  the  marvellous  only, 
tke-ir  purpose  has  nothing  in  common  with  that  of  tragedy ; 
for  we  are  not  to  seek  for  every  sort  of  pleasure  from  tra- 
gedy, but  for  that  only  which  is  proper  to  the  species. 

Since,  therefore,  it  is  the  business  of  the  tragic  poet  to  give 
that  pleasure,  which  arises  from  pity  and  terror,  through 
imitation,  it  is  evident,  that  he  ought  to  produce  that  effect 
by  the  circumstances  of  the  action  itself. 

Let  us,  then,  see  of  what  kind  those  incidents  are,  which 
appear  most  terrible  or  piteous. 

Now,  such  actions  must,  of  necessity,  happen  between 
persons  who  are  either  friends,  or  enemies,  or  indifferent  to 
each  other.  If  an  enemy  kills,  or  purposes  to  kill,  an  enemy, 
in  neither  case  is  any  commiseration  raised  in  us,  beyond 
what  necessarily  arises  from  the  nature  of  the  action  itself. 

The  case  is  the  same,  when  the  persons  are  neither  friends 
nor  enemies.  But  when  such  disasters  happen  between 
friends — when,  for  instance,  the  brother  kills,  or  is  going  to 
kill,  his  brother,  the  son  his  father,  the  mother  her  son,  or 
the  reverse, — these,  and  others  of  a  similar  kind,  are  the 

Q 


226  THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA. 

proper  incidents  for  the  poet's  choice.  The  received  tragic 
subjects,  therefore,  he  is  not  at  liberty  essentially  to  alter ; 
Clytcvmnestra  must  die  by  the  hand  of  Orestes,  and  Eriphyle 
by  that  of  Alcmceon :  but  it  is  his  province  to  invent  other 
subjects,  and  to  make  a  skilful  use  of  those  which  he  finds 
already  established.  What  I  mean  by  a  skilful  use,  I  pro- 
ceed to  explain. 

The  atrocious  action  may  be  perpetrated  knowingly  and 
intentionally,  as  was  usual  with  the  earlier  poets ;  and  as 
Euripides,  also,  has  represented  Medea  destroying  her  chil- 
dren. 

It  may,  likewise,  be  perpetrated  by  those  who  are  ignorant, 
at  the  time,  of  the  connexion  between  them  and  the  injured 
person,  which  they  afterwards  discover ;  like  CEdipus,  in 
Sophocles.  There,  indeed,  the  action  itself  does  not  make 
a  part  of  the  drama:  the  Alcmceon  of  Astydamas,  and 
Telegonus  in  the  Ulysses  Wounded,  furnish  instances  within 
the  tragedy.  There  is  yet  a  third  way,  where  a  person 
upon  the  point  of  perpetrating,  through  ignorance,  some 
dreadful  deed,  is  prevented  by  a  sudden  discovery. 

Beside  these,  there  is  no  other  proper  way.  For  the 
action  must  of  necessity  be  either  done  or  not  done,  and  that, 
either  with  knowledge,  or  ivithout :  but  of  all  these  ways, 
that  of  being  ready  to  execute,  knowingly,  and  yet  not  ex- 
ecuting, is  the  worst ;  for  this  is,  at  the  same  time,  shocking, 
and  yet  not  tragic,  because  it  exhibits  no  disastrous  event. 
It  is,  therefore,  never,  or  very  rarely,  made  use  of.  The  at- 
tempt of  Hcemon  to  kill  Creon,  in  the  Antigone,  is  an  ex- 
ample. 

Next  to  this,  is  the  actual  execution  of  the  purpose. 

To  execute,  through  ignorance,  and  afterwards  to  dis- 
cover, is  better :  for  thus  the  shocking  atrociousness  is 
avoided,  and  at  the  same  time,  the  discovery  is  striking. 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  227 

But  the  best  of  all  these  ways  is  the  last.  Thus,  in  the 
Tragedy  of  Cresphontes,  Herope,  in  the  very  act  of  putting 
her  son  to  death,  discovers  him,  and  is  prevented.  In  the 
Iphigenia,  the  sister,  in  the  same  manner,  discovers  her 
brother ;  and  in  the  Helle,  the  son  discovers  his  mother,  at 
the  instant  when  he  was  going  to  betray  her. 

On  this  account  it  is,  that  the  subjects  of  Tragedy,  aa 
before  remarked,  are  confined  to  a  small  number  of  families. 
For  it  was  not  to  art,  but  to  fortune,  that  poets  applied 
themselves  to  find  incidents  of  this  nature.  Hence  the  ne- 
cessity of  having  recourse  to  those  families  in  which  such 
calamities  have  happened.  Of  the  plot,  or  fable,  and  its 
requisites,  enough  has  now  been  said. 

XV. — With  respect  to  the  Manners,  four  things  are  to 
be  attended  to  by  the  poet. 

First,  and  principally,  they  should  be  good  (xpi]<rra).  Now 
manners,  or  character,  belong,  as  we  have  said  before,  to  any 
speech  or  action  that  manifests  a  certain  disposition ;  and 
they  are  bad,  or  good,  as  the  disposition  manifested  is  bad, 
or  good.  This  goodness  of  manners  may  be  found  in  per- 
sons of  every  description  ;  the  manners  of  a  woman,  or  of  a 
slave,  may  be  good ;  though,  in  general,  women  are,  per- 
haps, rather  bad  than  good,  and  slaves  altogether  bad. 

The  second  requisite,  H jpfOpHifyt  (TO.  appoTTovTa).  There 
is  a  manly  character  of  bravery  and  fierceness,  which  can- 
not, with  propriety,  be  given  to  a  woman. 

The  third  requisite  is  resemblance  (TO  Sjuotov)  :  for  this  is 
a  different  thing  from  their  being  good  aud  proper,  as  above 
described. 

The  fourth,  is  uniformity  (ro  6/iaXoi/) ;  for  even  though 
the  model  of  the  poet's  imitation  be  some  person  of  ununi- 
form  manners,  still  that  person  must  be  represented  as  uni- 
formly ununifon/l.  (6/uaXwe  avw/iaXov  &t  tlvai.) 


228  •       TTTE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

We  have  an  example  of  manners  unnecessarily  lad,  in 
the  character  of  Menelaus  in  the  tragedy  of  Orestes ;  of 
improper  and  unbecoming  manners,  in  the  lamentation  of 
Ulysses  in  Scylla,  and  in  the  speech  of  Melanippe :  of  un- 
uniform  manners,  in  the  Jphigenia  at  Aulis  ;  for  there,  the 
Jphigenia,  who  supplicates  for  life,  has  no  resemblance  to 
the  Ipliigenia  of  the  conclusion. 

In  the  manners,  as  in  the  fable,  the  poet  should  always 
aim,  either  at  what  is  necessary,  or  what  is  probable;  so  that 
such  a  character  shall  appear  to  speak  or  act  necessarily,  or 
probably,  in  such  a  manner,  and  this  event  to  be  the  neces- 
sary or  probable  consequence  of  that. — Hence  it  is  evident, 
that  the  development  also  of  a  fable  should  arise  out  of  the 
fable  itself,  and  not  depend  upon  machinery,  as  in  the  Medea, 
or  in  the  incidents  relative  to  the  return  of  the  Greeks,  in 
the  Iliad.  The  proper  application  of  machinery  is  to  such 
circumstances  as  are  extraneous  to  the  Drama ;  such,  as 
either  happened  before  the  time  of  the  action,  and  could  not, 
by  human  means,  be  known  ;  or,  are  to  happen  after,  and 
require  to  be  foretold :  for  to  the  gods  we  attribute  the 
knowledge  of  all  things.  But  nothing  improbable  should  be 
admitted  in  the  incidents  of  the  fable ;  or,  if  it  cannot  be 
avoided,  it  should,  at  least,  be  confined  to  such  as  are  with- 
out the  tragedy  itself ;  as  in  the  CEdipus  of  Sophocles. 

Since  Tragedy  is  an  imitation  of  what  is  best,  we  should 
follow  the  example  of  skilful  portrait-painters ;  who,  while 
they  express  the  peculiar  lineaments,  and  produce  a  likeness, 
at  the  same  time  improve  upon  the  original.  And  thus,  too, 
the  poet,  when  he  imitates  the  manners  of  passionate  men 
(or  of  indolent,  or  any  other  of  a  similar  kind),  should  draw 
an  example  approaching  rather  to  a  good,  than  to  a  hard 
ferocious  character :  as  AcMlles  is  drawn,  by  Agatho, 


THE   GRECIAN*   DRAMA.  229 

and  by  Homer.  These  things  the  poet  should  keep  in  view ; 
and,  besides  these,  whatever  relates  to  those  senses  which 
have  a  necessary  connection  with  poetry  :  for  here,  also,  he 
may  often  err.  But  of  this  enough  has  been  said  in  the 
treatises  already  published. 

XVI. — What  is  meant  by  a  Discovery,  has  already  been 
explained.  Its  kinds  are  the  following. 

First,  the  most  inartificial  of  all,  and  to  which,  from 
poverty  of  invention,  the  generality  of  poets  have  recourse 
— is  the  discovery  by  visible  signs,  (ij  Sta  a^ifiwv).  Of  these 
signs,  some  are  natural ;  as  the  lance  with  which  the  family 
of  the  earthborn  TJiebans  were  marked  :  others  are  adventi- 
tious ;  (iTn'icTTjra')  and  of  these,  some  are  corporal,  as  scars; 
some  external,  as  necklaces,  bracelets,  Sec.  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  discover)-  of  Ulysses,  for  example,  to  his  nurse, 
by  means  of  his  scar,  is  very  different  from  his  discover}-, 
by  the  same  means,  to  the  herdsmen.  For  all  those  dis- 
coveries, in  which  the  sign  is  produced  by  way  of  proof,  arc 
inartificial.  Those  which,  like  that  in  the  Washing  of 
Ulysses  happen  suddenly  and  casualty,  are  better. 

Secondly, — Discoveries  invented,  at  pleasure,  by  the  poet, 
and  on  that  account,  still  inartificial.  For  example  ;  in  the 
Ipltigenia,  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  discover}-, 
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  ;  (17  &a 
jLtv77/ii}e')  as,  when  some  recollection  is  excited  by  the  view  of 
a  particular  object.  Thus,  in  the  Cyprians  of  Dicwogenes,  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 ;  (17  IK  av\\oyiafj.ov')  such  as  that  in  the  Choephorce: 
"  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  /"  That,  also,  in  the 
Thydeus  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 
Toy  probable  incidents.~l.Such  is  that  in  the  CKdipus  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  Cardnus  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,  they  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  imaq'.,  . 

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  Ipldwnia  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    DRAMA. 

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  bean 
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,  (§e'<r<c,)  and  the  development,  (Xvatz).  The 
complication  is  often  formed  by  incidents  supposed  prior  to 
the  action,  and  by  a  part,  also,  of  those  that  are  ivithin  tho 
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  Lyncews  of  Tkcodccte*,  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, (ir£Tr\£yf.iivr]-)  where  all  depends  on  revolution  and 
discovery:  another  is  the  disastrous,  (TraflrjriKTj')  such  as 
those  on  the  subject  of  Ajax  or  Ixlon  :  another,  the  moral, 
(nBuct'i)  as  the  Phthiotidcs  and  the  Pclcus :  and,  fourthly, 
the  simple,  (olov)  such  as  the  Phorcidcs,  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,  d<:vclope  badly.  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 


234f  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  Agatho 
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  Agatlio  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 ! 

XIX. — Of  the  other  parts  of  Tragedy  enough  has  now 
been  said.  We  are  next  to  consider  the  diction  and  the 
sentiments. 

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  wliatever 
is  the  object  of  speech ;  as,  for  instance,  to  prove,  to  confute, 


THE  GBECIAN  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  \ 

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,  ansicering,  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,  O  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 — wicels,  semivowels,  and  mutes.  The 


236  THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

wwel  is  that  which  has  a  distinct  sound  without  articulation; 
as  A  or  0.  The  semivowel,  that  which  has  a  distinct  sound 
with  articulatiop,  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,  gram,  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  GRA,  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  <t>r\ni,  the  word  irtpt,  &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  icalked,  &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 
men,  &c.  Others  relate  to  action  or  pronunciation ;  as 
those  of  interrogation,  of  command,  &c.  for  tjSaStcrf ;  [oftW 
A0  <70  ?]  and  /3aS/£f,  [00,]  are  verbal  cases  of  that  kind. 

8.  Discourses,  or  speech,  is  a  sound  significant,  composed 
of  other  sounds,  SOTH«  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  "  Cleon 
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 
Megaliota?,  as  Hermocaicoxanthus.  Even-  word  is  either 
common,  or  foreign,  or  metaphorical,  or  ornamental,  or  in- 
vented, or  extended,  or  contracted,  or  altered. 

By  common  words  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 and.  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  specie* 
to  genus,  or  from,  one  species  to  another,  or  in  the  way  of 
analogy, 


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, 

XaAic(£>  airo  i 
And, 


For  here  the  poet  uses  ra/xttv,  to  CM£  0$  instead  of  a 
#o  e?raw  /0r£/i,  and  apvaai  instead  of  rajueiv  ;   each  being  a 
species  of  taking  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  cup  bears  the  same  relation  to  Bacchus,  as  a 
shield  to  Mars.  A  shield,  therefore,  may  be  called  tf/40  cup 
of  Mars,  and  a  cup  the  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  sun's  light,  what  so  winy  is  with  respect  to  seed. 
Hence  the  poet's  expression  of  the  sun — 

Sowing  abroad, 

His  heaven-created  flame. 

There  i*.  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  improper  sense  :  as  if,  instead 
of  calling  a  shield  the  cup  of  Mars,  we  should  call  it  the 
icineless  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  epvvTai  for  Kspara,  horns,  or  aprinip,  for  Itptvq,  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  TroXrjoe  forTroAtoc, 
and  IlT]ATjmSe<i>  for  nt]Xua$ov,  are  extended  words:  con- 
tracted, such  as  Kpi,  and  So>,  and  6i// :  e.  g. 

fjua  yivtrai  afj.<f>oT£pb)v  ci//. 

An  altered  word  is  a  word  of  which  part  remains  in  its 
usual  state,  and  part  is  of  the  poet's  making :  as  in 

Atsf  £/>ov  Kara  jua^oi/. 
$£tT£pos  is  for  &£toc. 

Farther — nouns  are  divided  into  masculine,  feminine,  and 
neuter.  The  masculine  are  those  which  end  in  v,  p,  a,  or  in 
some  letter  compounded  of  <r  and  a  mute  ;  these  are  two,  ^ 
and  £.  The  feminine,  are  those  which  end  in  the  vowels 
always  long,  as  17,  or  w  ;  or  in  a  of  the  doubtful  vowels  :  so 
that  the  masculine  and  the  feminine  terminations  are  equal 
in  number ;  for  as  to  ^  and  £,  they  are  the  same  with  ter- 
minations in  a.  No  noun  ends  in  a  mute  or  short  vowel. 
There  are  but  three  ending  in  t ;  /usXt,  Ko^/zt,  Trsirspi :  five 
ending  in  u  ;  TTWU,  VOTTV,  yovv,  Sopu,  aorv. 


240  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

The  neuter  terminate  in  these  two  last  mentioned  vowels, 
and  in  v  and  a. 

XXII. — The  excellence  of  diction  consists  in  being  per- 
spicuous without  being  mean.  The  most  perspicuous  is  that 
which  is  composed  of  common  words,  but  at  the  same  time 
it  is  mean.  Such  is  the  poetry  of  deep/ton,  and  that  of 
Sthenelus.  That  language,  on  the  contrary,  is  elevated,  and 
remote  from  the  vulgar  idiom,  which  employs  unusual  words : 
by  unusual  I  mean  foreign,  metaphorical,  extended — all,  in 
short,  that  are  not  common  words.  Yet,  should  a  poet 
compose  his  diction  entirely  of  such  words,  the  result  would 
be  either  an  enigma,  or  a  barbarous  jargon  :  an  enigma  if 
composed  of  metaphors,  a  barbarous  jargon  if  composed  of 
foreign  words.  For  the  essence  of  an  enigma  consists  in 
putting  together  things  apparently  inconsistent  and  impossible, 
and  at  the  same  time  saying  nothing  but  w/tat  is  true.  Now 
this  cannot  be  effected  by  the  mere  arrangement  of  the 
words ;  by  the  metaphorical  use  of  them  it  may,  as  in  this 
enigma — 

A  man  I  once  beheld,  [and  wondering  view'd,] 
Who,  on  another,  brass  with  fire  had  glew'd. 

With  respect  to  'barbarism,  it  arises  from  the  use  of 
foreign  words.  A  judicious  intermixture  is  therefore  re- 
quisite. 

Thus  the  foreign  word,  the  metaphorical,  the  ornamental, 
and  the  other  species  before  mentioned,  will  raise  the  lan- 
guage above  the  vulgar  idiom,  and  common  words  will  give 
it  perspicuity.  But  nothing  contributes  more  considerably 
to  produce  clearness,  without  vulgarity,  of  diction,  than 
extensions,  contractions,  and  alterations,  of  words:  for  here 
the  variation  from  the  proper  form,  being  unusual,  will  give 
elevation  to  the  expression ;  and  at  the  same  time,  what  is 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

retained  of  usual  speech  will  give  it  clearness.  It  is  without 
reason,  therefore,  that  some  critics  have  censured  these 
modes  of  speech,  and  ridiculed  the  poet  for  the  use  of 
them  ;  as  old  Euclid  did,  objecting,  that  "  versification 
would  be  an  easy  business,  if  it  were  permitted  to  lengthen 
words  at  pleasure  ;"  and  then  giving  a  burlesque  example 

of  that  sort  of  diction  :  as, 

******** 

****#***» 

Undoubtedly,  when  these  licences  appear  to  be  thus  pur- 
posely used,  the  thing  becomes  ridiculous.  In  the  employ- 
ment of  alliliQ  species  of  unusual  words,  moderation  is  ne- 
cessary :  for  metaphors,  foreign  words,  or  any  of  the  others, 
improperly  used,  and  with  a  desion  to  be  ridiculous,  would 
produce  the  same  effect.  But  how  great  a  difference  is  made 
by  a  proper  and  temperate  use  of  such  words,  may  be  seen 
in  heroic  verse.  Let  any  one  only  substitute  common  words 
in  the  place  of  the  metaphorical,  the  foreign,  and  others  of 
the  same  kind,  and  he  will  be  convinced  of  the  truth  of 
what  I  say.  For  example  :  the  same  iambic  verse  occurs 
in  jtEschylus  and  in  Euripides  ;  but  by  means  of  a  single  al- 
teration —  the  substitution  of  a  foreign  for  a  common  and 
usual  word,  one  of  these  verses  appears  beautiful,  the  other 
ordinary.  For  ^Esckylus,  in  his  Philoctetcs,  says 


The  cank'rous  wound  that  eats  my  flesh. 

But  Euripides,  instead  of  faBiti  [eats}  uses  Ooivarai. 
The  same  difference  will  appear,  if  in  this  verse, 
Nuv  Se  {JL   lav  oXcyoe  T£  KOI  ourt£avoc  KOI  aKi 


1  The  examples  are  omitted,  on  account  of  the  great  corruption  of 
the  text. 


242  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

we  substitute  common  words,  and  say — 

Nu^  Se  fj,'  twv  fiiKpog  re  KCU  aaOtvtKoe  Kai  actSrjc. 
So,  again,  should  we  for  the  following — 

Af^oov  detKfXiov  KaraQcit;,  oXtyriv  T£  Tpcnrt%av — 
substitute  this — 

Ai^joov  fjio-^Oripov  KctTaOeig,  fjLiKpav  re  TjOOTre^ar, 
Or  change  'Ht'ovfc  j3oowcrti> — The  cliffs  rebellow — to  ' 
KpaZovaiv — The  cliffs  resound. 

Ariphrades,  also,  endeavoured  to  throw  ridicule  upon  the 
tragic  poets,  for  making  use  of  such  expressions  as  no  one 
would  think  of  using  in  common  speech  :  as,  SWJUOTOJV  aVo, 
instead  of  aVo  Sw/iarwv :  and  GtBev,  and  l-ytu  Se  viv,  and 
'Ax'AXewg  Trtpi,  instead  of  irepi  'AxtXXewc,  &c.  Now  it  is 
precisely  oAving  to  their  being  not  in  common  use,  that  such 
expressions  have  the  effect  of  giving  elevation  to  the  diction. 
But  this  he  did  not  know. 

To  employ  with  propriety  any  of  these  modes  of  speech — 
the  double  words,  the  foreign,  &c.  is  a  great  excellence  ;  but 
the  greatest  of  aU  is  to  be  happy  in  the  use  of  metaphor  ; 
for  it  is  this  alone  which  cannot  be  acquired,  and  which, 
consisting  in  a  quick  discernment  of  resemblances,  is  a  cer- 
tain mark  of  genius. 

I  Of  the  different  kinds  of  words  the  double  are  best  suited 
to  dithyrambic  poetry,  the  foreign  to  heroic,  the  metaphorical 
to  iambic.  In  heroic  poetry,  indeed,  they  have  all  their 
place ;  but  to  iambic  verse,  which  is,  as  much  as  may  be,  an 
imitation  of  common  speech,  those  words  which  are  used  in 
common  speech  are  best  adapted ;  and  such  are  the  common, 
the  metaphorical,  and  the  ornamental. 

Concerning  Tragedy,  and  the  imitation  by  action,  enough 
has  now  been  said. 

XXIII. — With  respect  to  that  species  of  poetry  which 


THE    GRECIAN-    DRAMA.  243 

imitates  by  narration,  and  in  hexameter  verse,  it  is  obvious 
that  the  fable  ought  to  be  dramatically  constructed,  like 
that  of  Tragedy :  and  that  it  should  have  for  its  subject 
one  entire  and  perfect  action,  having  a  beginning,  a  middle, 
and  an  end ;  so  that,  forming,  like  an  animal,  a  complete 
whole,  it  may  afford  its  proper  pleasure  :  widely  differing,  in 
its  construction,  from  history,  which  necessarily  treats,  not 
of  one  action,  but  of  one  time,  and  of  all  the  events  that 
happened  to  one  person,  or  to  many,  during  that  time ; 
events,  the  relation  of  which  to  each  other  is  merely  casual. 
For,  as  the  naval  action  at  Salaniis,  and  the  battle  with  the 
Carthaginians  in  Sicily,  were  events  of  the  same  time,  un- 
connected by  any  relation  to  a  common  end  or  purpose  ;  so 
also,  in  successive  events,  we  sometimes  see  one  thing  follow 
another,  without  being  connected  to  it  by  such  relation. 
And  this  is  the  practice  of  the  generality  of  poets.  Even 
in  this,  therefore,  as  we  have  before  observed,  the  superior- 
ity of  Homer's  genius  is  apparent,  that  he  did  not  attempt 
to  bring  the  whole  war,  though  an  entire  action  with  begin- 
ning and  end,  into  his  poem.  It  would  have  been  too  vast 
an  object,  and  not  easily  comprehended  in  one  cieic :  or,  had 
he  forced  it  into  a  moderate  compass,  it  would  have  been 
perplexed  by  its  variety.  Instead  of  this,  selecting  one  part 
only  of  the  war,  he  has,  from  the  rest,  introduced  many 
episodes — such  as  the  catalogue  of  the  ships,  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  Ci/pnacs,  and  of  the 
Little  Iliad.  Hence  it  is,  that  the  Ih'ad  and  the  Odyssey 
each  of  them  furnish  matter  for  one  tragedy,  or  two,  at 
most ;  but  from  the  Cyprians  many  may  be  taken,  and  fronj 


244  THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA. 

the  Little  Iliad  more  than  eight ;  as,  The  Contest  for  the 
Armour,  Philocteles,  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 

nificence,  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  Charenion  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  take 
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  ah"  have  their  character — no  where  are  the 
manners  neglected. 

The  surprising  is  necessary  in  Tragedy ;  but  the  epie 
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- 
lable,  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  bo  allowed, 


THE   GRECIAN'   DRAMA. 


247 


though  even  in  itself  a bsurd.  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 — ah1  this  he  is  to  express  in  words,  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  ichat  is  right  in  the  poetic  art, 
is  a  distinct  consideration  from  ichat  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   GKECIAN   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  poef s  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. 

are  said  and  Iclitved  to  be.  Of  this  kind  are  the  poetical 
descriptions  of  the  gods.  It  cannot,  perhaps,  be  said  that 
they  are  either  what  is  fast,  or  what  is  true  ;  but,  as  X&M- 
phaiies  says,  opinions  "  token  up  at  random  ;""  these  are 
things,  however,  not  "  clearly  known? 

Again  —  What  the  poet  has  exhibited  is,  perhaps,  not 
what  is  fast,  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  done,  by  any 
character,  be  icell  or  ill,  we  are  not  to  consider  that  speech 
or  action  alone,  whether  in  itself  it  be  good  or  oad,  but  also 
ly  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  : 


"  On  mules  and  dogs  th'  infection  first  began.  —  Pope. 
This  may  be  defended  by  saying,  that  the  poet  has,  perhaps, 
used  the  word  ovpqag  in  its  foreign  acceptation  of  sentinels, 
not  in  its  proper  sense,  of  mules. 

So  also  in  the  passage  where  it  is  said  of  Dolon  — 

......  EtSo£  fJLtV  £»}V  KttKOQ  ...... 

...  Of  form  unhappy  ......... 

The  meaning  is,  not,  that  his  person  was  deformed,  but, 
that  his  face  was    ugly  ;  for    the  Cretans  use  the  word 
"  well-forme  JF'-*-iQ  express  a  beautiful  face. 


250  THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA. 

Again — 

Zuporepov  £>£  icepaips 

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  ; 
"  Th'  immortals  slumbered  on  their  thrones  above." — Pope. 
Again — 

"  When  on  the  Trojan  plain  his  anxious  eye 

"  Watchful  hejix'd." 

And— 

Av\(t)v 


For,  all,  is  put  metaphorically,  instead  of  many;  a??  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— 

AtSojuei/  Sf  ol  eu^oc  a/ocerflm... 

And  this — TO  /ufv  ou  Kara7ru0ETat  o/ujS/o^ — were  defended 
by  Hippias  of  Thasos. 

4.  To  punctuation ;  as  in  the  passage  of  Empedocles : — 

Al\fja  Sc  Ovr)r'  tyvovro  TO.  irptv  paOov  adavar'  tlvat, 

Zwpa  TE  ra  irpiv  aiCjorjTa 

things,  before  immortal, 

Mortal  became,  and  mix'd  before,  unmiitd. 

5.  To  ambiguity;    as  in — irapqxriKiv   £t 
where  the  word  TrXewv  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 — Au  o\vo\oivuv — 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  ^aA^c,  literally 
braziers.  Of  this  kind  is  the  expression  of  the  poet — 
Ki'jjmc  v£orruKTOu  Kaaairtpoio. 

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 — 

...  ry  p*  iayiTo  \a\ntov  ty\og — 
"  There  stuck  the  lance."—  Pope, 
the  meaning  is,  was  stopped  only,  or  repelled. 

Of  how  many  different  senses  a  word  is  capable,  may  best 
be  discovered  by  considering  the  different  senses  that  are 
opposed  to  it. 

We  may  also  say,  with  Gfauco,  that  some  critics,  first 
take  things  for  granted  without  foundation,  and  then  argue 
from  these  previous  decisions  of  their  own ;  and,  having 
once  pronounced  their  judgment,  condemn,  as  an  inconsist- 
ence,  whatever  is  contrary  to  their  preconceived  opinion. 
Of  this  kind  is  the  cavil  of  the  critics  concerning  Icarius. 
Taking  it  for  granted  that  he  was  a  Lacedaemonian,  they 
thence  infer  the  absurdity  of  supposing  Telemachus  not  to 
have  seen  him  when  he  went  to  Lacedsemon.  But,  perhaps, 
what  the  Cephalenians  say  may  be  the  truth.  They  assert, 
that  the  wife  of  Ulysses  was  of  their  country,  and  that  the 
name  of  her  father  was  not  Icarius,  but  Icadius.  The  ob- 
jection itself,  therefore,  is  probably  founded  on  a  mistake. 

The  impossible,  in  general,  is  to  be  justified  by  referring, 
either  to  the  end  of  poetry  itself,  or  to  what  is  best,  or  to 
opinion. 


252  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

For,  with  respect  to  poetry,  impossibilities,  rendered  pro- 
bable,  are  preferable  to  things  improbable,  though  possible. 

With  respect  also  to  what  is  best,  the  imitations  of  poetry 
should  resemble  the  paintings  of  Zeuxis :  the  example 
should  be  more  perfect  than  nature. 

To  opinion,  or  what  is  commonly  said  to  be,  may  be  re- 
ferred even  such  things  as  are  improbable  and  absurd ;  and 
it  may  also  be  said,  that  events  of  that  kind  are,  sometimes, 
not  really  improbable ,•  since,  "it  is  probable,  that  many 
things  should  happen  contrary  to  probability." 

When  things  are  said,  which  appear  to  be  contradictory, 
we  must  examine  them  as  we  do  in  logical  confutation : 
whether  the  same  thing  be  spoken  of ;  whether  in  the  same 
respect,  and  in  the  same  sense.  ****** 

Improbability,  and  vicious  manners,  when  excused  by  no 
necessity,  are  just  objects  of  critical  censure.  Such  is  the 
improbability  in  the  ^Ege-us  of  Euripides,  and  the  vicious 
character  of  Menelaus  in  his  Orestes. 

Thus,  the  sources  from  which  the  critics  draw  their  objec- 
tions are  five :  they  object  to  things  as  impossible,  or  impro- 
bable, or  of  immoral  tendency,  or  contradictory,  or  contrary 
to  technical  accuracy.  The  answers,  which  are  twelve  in 
number,  may  be  deduced  from  what  has  been  said. 

XXVI. — It  may  be  inquired,  farther,  which  of  the  two 
imitations,  the  epic,  or  the  tragic,  deserves  the  prefer- 
ence. 

If  that,  which  is  the  least  vulgar  or  popular  of  the  two, 
be  the  best,  and  that  be  such,  which  is  calculated  for  the 
better  sort  of  spectators — the  imitation,  which  extends  to 
every  circumstance,  must,  evidently,  be  the  most  vulgar,  or 
popular ;  for  there,  the  imitators  have  recourse  to  every 
kind  of  motion  and  gesticulation,  as  if  the  audience,  without 


THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA.  253 

the  aid  of  action,  were  incapable  of  understanding  them  ; 
like  bad  flute-players,  who  whirl  themselves  round,  when 
they  would  imitate  the  motion  of  the  discus,  and  pull  the 
Coryphaeus,  when  Scylla  is  the  subject.  Such  is  Tragedy. 
It  may  also  be  compared  to  what  the  modern  actors  are  in 
the  estimation  of  their  predecessors ;  for,  Myniscm  used  to 
call  Callippides,  on  account  of  his  intemperate  action,  the 
ape :  and  Tyndarus  was  censured  on  the  same  account. 
What  these  performers  are  with  respect  to  their  predecessors, 
the  tragic  imitation,  when  entire,  is  to  the  epic.  The  latter, 
then,  it  is  urged,  addresses  itself  to  hearers  of  the  better 
sort,  to  whom  the  addition  of  gesture  is  superfluous  ;  but 
Tragedy  is  for  the  people ;  and  being  therefore  the  most 
vulgar  kind  of  imitation,  is  evidently  the  inferior. 

But  now,  in  the  first  place,  this  censure  falls,  not  upon 
the  poet's  art,  but  upon  that  of  the  actor ;  for  the  gesticula- 
tion may  be  equally  laboured  in  the  recitation  of  an  epic 
poem,  a«  it  was  by  Sosistratus ;  and  in  singing,  as  by 
Maasitkcus  the  Opuntian. 

Again — All  gesticulation  is  not  to  be  condemned,  since 
even  all  dancing  is  not ;  but  such  only  as  is  unbecoming — 
such  as  was  objected  to  CaUippidts,  and  is  now  objected  to 
others,  whose  gestures  resemble  those  of  immodest  wo- 
men. 

Farther — Tragedy,  as  well  as  the  epic,  is  capable  of 
producing  its  effect,  even  without  action ;  we  can  judge  of 
it  perfectly  by  reading.  If,  then,  in  other  respects,  Tragedy 
be  superior,  it  is  sufficient  that  the  fault  here  objected  is  not 
essential  to  it. 

Tragedy  has  the  adcantage  iu  the  following  respects.  It 
possesses  all  that  is  possessed  by  the  epic ;  it  might  even 
adopt  its  metre ;  and  to  this  it  makes  no  inconsiderable 


254  THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

addition,  in  the  music  and  the  decoration ;  by  the  latter  of 
which,  the  illusion  is  heightened,  and  the  pleasure,  arising 
from  the  action,  is  rendered  more  sensible  and  striking. 

It  has  the  advantage  of  greater  clearness  and  distinctness 
of  impression,  as  well  in  reading  ,  as  in  representation. 

It  has  also  that,  of  attaining  the  end  of  its  imitation  in 
a  shorter  compass  :  for  the  effect  is  more  pleasurable,  when 
produced  by  a  short  and  close  series  of  impressions,  than 
when  weakened  by  diffusion  through  a  long  extent  of  time ; 
as  the  CEdlpus  of  Sophocles,  for  example,  would  be,  if  it 
were  drawn  out  to  the  length  of  the  Iliad.  Farther  :  there 
is  less  unity  in  all  epic  imitation  ;  as  appears  from  this— 
that  any  epic  poem  will  furnish  matter  for  several  tragedies. 
For,  supposing  the  poet  to  choose  a  fable  strictly  one,  the 
consequence  must  be,  either,  that  his  poem,  if  proportion- 
ably  contracted,  will  appear  curtailed  and  defective,  or, 
if  extended  to  the  usual  length,  will  become  weak,  and,  as 
it  were,  diluted.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  we  suppose  him  to 
employ  several  fables — that  is,  a  fable  composed  of  several 
actions — his  imitation  is  no  longer  strictly  one.  The  Iliad, 
for  example,  and  the  Odyssey  contain  many  such  subordinate 
parts,  each  of  which  has  a  certain  magnitude,  and  unity, 
of  its  own  ;  yet  is  the  construction  of  those  poems  as  per- 
fect, and  as  nearly  approaching  to  the  imitation  of  a  single 
action,  as  possible. 

If,  then,  Tragedy  be  superior  to  the  Epic  in  all  these 
respects,  and  also  in  the  peculiar  end  at  which  it  aims  (for, 
each  species  ought  to  afford,  not  any  sort  of  pleasure  in- 
discriminately, but  such  only  as  has  been  pointed  out),  it 
evidently  follows,  that  Tragedy,  as  it  attains  more  effec- 
tually the  end  of  the  art  itself,  must  deserve  the  prefer- 
ence. 


THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA.  255 

And  thus  much  concerning  tragic  and  epic  poetry  in 
general,  and  their  several  species — the  number  and  the  differ- 
ences of  their  parts — the  causes  of  their  beauties  and  their 
defects — the  censures  of  critics,  and  the  principles  on  which 
they  are  to  be  answered. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

SECTION.  I. 

Greek    Prosody. 

1.  A  SHORT  or  doubtful  vowel  before  two  consonants  or  a 
double  letter,  in  the  same  or  different  words,  is  generally 
long.  The  exceptions  to  this  rule  take  place  when  the  lat- 
ter consonant  is  a  liquid.  In  Epic  Poetry,  they  occur  only 
in  proper  names,  and  in  those  words,  which  could  not  be 
used  in  any  other  position.  In  Pastoral,  Elegiac,  and  Epi- 
grammatic verse,  the  syllable  is  more  frequently  short.  In 
Dramatic  poetry,  the  following  rules  may  be  observed: 
A  short  vowel  before  a  soft  or  aspirate  mute  followed  by 
a  liquid,  and  before  a  middle  mute  followed  by  /»,  remains 
short.  In  Tragedy,  the  syllable,  if  not  final,  is  often  long, 
and  it  is,  even  then,  long  in  Sophocles,  CEd.  Tyr.  Iv  bvtipaal 

/3/30TWI'. 

A  short  vowel  before  a  middle  mute  followed  by  X,  ju,  or  i>, 
lengthens  the  syllable  in  all  Dramatic  Poetry.  The  reason 
of  this  difference  between  Heroic  and  Dramatic  Poetry 
may  be  this.  In  the  grave,  majestic  cadence  of  Heroic 
verse,  Spondees  are  frequent ;  but  the  Iambs  and  Tribrachs 
of  the  language  of  the  stage  require  short  syllables.  Hence 
the  doubtful  vowel  in  tyQavw,  $0ivw,  rtvw,  &c.  is  long  in 
Homer,  and  short  in  Iambic  Metre.  It  is  remarkable  that 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  257 

the  short  syllable  prevails,  in  proportion  as  the  style  ap- 
proaches to  that  of  conversation.  When  the  syllable  is 
lengthened  before  two  consonants,  the  vowel  in  pronuncia- 
tion assumes  one  or  both  of  them,  as  rtK-vov,  or,  rlKv-ov  ; 
when  the  syllable  remains  short,  the  vowel  concludes  it,  as 
Tf.-K.vov.  So  in  Latin  the  first  syllable  in  Atlas,  &c.  is  some- 
times short,  because  it  is  pronounced  A-tlas.  When  the 
vowel  is  followed  by  two  consonants,  the  latter  of  which  is 
not  a  liquid,  or  by  two  liquids,  the  syllable  is  long  in  every 
species  of  poetry.  Hence,  if  we  find  £E  2tca/iav8/oov,  -rrapa 
<mi0jua>,  we  must  observe  that  Ka^av^pov  was  the  ancient 
form,  and  that  some  MSS.  have  irap  araO^w. 

2.  A  short  vowel  is  sometimes  made  long,  in  Heroic  verse, 
before  a  single  consonant,  particularly  before  a  liquid,  and 
before  p,  which  seem  to  have  the  property  of  doubling  them- 
selves in  pronunciation ;  this  principally  occurs  in  the  caesura, 
and  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  ictus.     A  short  syllable  is 
often  made  long  when  the  next  word  begins  with  a  digam- 
mated  vowel,  as  6c  01,  for  Fot.    A  short  vowel  is  said  some- 
times to  be  made  long  by  the  force  of  the   accent :  thus 
Homer  has  made  the  penultima  in  'lAiou   long.     In  other 
instances,  perhaps,  the  same  cause  has  shortened  a  long 
syllable,  as  twc  fyw  TT£/OI>  where  the  last  syllable  in  ttuc  seems 
to  be  short  on  account  of  the  elevation  of  the  voice  on  the 
first,  although  that  elevation  does  not   naturally  lengthen 
the  syllable. 

3.  When  three  short  syllables  come  together,  it  is  ne- 
cessary for  the  sake  of  the  measure  in  Heroic  verse,   that 
one*  should  be  made  long,  as  Il^Ta/utSijc.     Thus  9u  is  short 
in  Su-yarrj/o,  and  long  in  ZvyaripiQ ;  so  also  though  A  priva~ 

*  Generally  the  first,  and  that  too  in  the  metrical  arsis. 

s 


258  THE   GRECIAN   DBAMA. 

tive  is  generally  short,  it  is  lengthened  in  some  words  of 
more  than  three  syllables  :  as,  aOavaroQ. 

4.  A  vowel  is  made  short  before  another,  but  not  neces- 
sarily, as  among  the  Latins,  if  the  vowel  is  doubtful  :  as, 


5.  A  vowel  before  another  does  not  suffer  elision,  as  in 
Latin,  at  the  end  of  a  word,  unless  an  apostrophe  is  substi- 
tuted.    The  vowels  cut  off  by  apostrophe  are  a,  £,  i,  o,   and 
the  diphthongs  at  and  ot  ;  but  irfpi  and  717)0  never,  and  da- 
tives of  the  third  declension,  and  /xoi  and  <ro?,  seldom,  lose 
their  final  vowel.     The  elision  of  diphthongs  takes  place  in 
verbs  only  :  instances  of  this  are  to  be  found  only  in  the 
fragments  of  the  new  Comedy. 

6.  A  long  vowel,  or  a  diphthong,  is  generally  shortened 
at  the  end,  and  sometimes  at  the  beginning,  of  a  word, 
before  a  vowel  ;  as  oiicfri  tv,  Trout,  so  also  in  Latin,  Pelio 
Ossam,  servant  te  amice,  Virg.    Si  me  amas,  Hor.     The 
long  vowel  or  diphthong  may  be  considered  as  consisting  of 
two  short  vowels.    If  the  latter  is  supposed  to  suffer  elision, 
the  former  will  of  course  remain  short  ;  as,  otW  EV.     If  the 
final  vowel  or  diphthong  has  the  arsis,  it  remains  long.  The 
Greek  Dramatic*  writers  never  admit  in  Iambic  and  Tro- 
chaic metres  the  hiatus,  occasioned  by  a  vowel  or  diphthong 
at  the  end  of  one  word  being  shortened  before  the  com- 
mencing vowel  of  the  next  ;  except  in  exclamations  ;  as, 
u>  OVTOC  ;  Epic  writers  admit  the  hiatus  occasioned  by  a 
long  vowel  before  another  in  arsis  as  well  as  in  thesis,  also 
in  those  words  which  do  not  admit  of  elision,  as  ri  torni/, 
under  which  head  may  be  classed  genitives  ending  in  ao  and 
oto.     The  Roman  Poets,  to  whose  language  the  apostrophe 

*  The  ancient  Greek  Epic  Poets  appear  to  make  hiatuses  oftener 
than  they  really  do,  because  they  used  the  digamma. 


THE    Gnr.CIAX    DRAMA.  259 

is  unknown,  approve  of  the  hiatus  in  scarcely  any  besides 
long  syllables,  and  even  those  long  syllables  are  open  in  dac- 
tylic numbers  only :  necessarily,  when  a  short  syllable  fol- 
lows, so  that  synizesis  cannot  take  place,  as,  u  Lamentis 
gemituque  et  femineo  ululatu :"  not  necessarily,  when  the 
following  syllable,  being  long,  allows  of  syuizesis,  as,  "  Ne- 
reidum  matri  et  Neptuno  ^geo,"  or  where,  when  a  long 
syllable  follows,  the  open  syllable  is  made  short,  as,  "  Insulse 
lonio  in  magno."1  A  hiatus  in  a  short  syllable  is  very  rare  ; 
nor  is  it  excusable,  except  where  the  punctuation  occasions 
a  pause,  as  in  Virgil.  JUn.  1,  405.  Eel.  2,  53. 

7.  A  syllable  formed  by  contraction  or  crasis,  is  long  ;  as, 
ttytfe,  o07c.     Crasis,  used  principally  by  Attic   writers,  is 
made  by  those,  or  nearly  those  words  only,  which  coalesce 
in  the  sense  also,  as  ono  notion  or  idea,  whence  the  most 
frequent  crasis  is  in  the  article  and  noun,  as,  'avrjp,  rovpyov, 
also  in  some  particles,  as,  rai/,  for  roi  ay.     It  is  more  un- 
usual in  a  pronoun  and  verb,  a?,  a^u  from  a  tx*».     It  is  to 
be  understood  in  general,  that  the  long  vowels  a,  TJ,  w,  easily 
dissolve  in  crasis  with  a  short  initial  one,  which  is   almost 
only  £;   as  does  the  diphthong  ou,  which   appears  to  be 
nothing  but  a  substitute  for  a  vowel  which  wanted  a  proper 
character  among  the  Greeks.     Keu  makes  a  crasis  with  all 
vowels  and  diphthongs :  seldom,  however,  with  i,  and  Por- 
son  observes,  that  it  is  not  united  with  act,  or  with  EU,  ex- 
cept in  compound  words. 

8.  Two  successive  vowels,  forming  two  syllables,  even  in 
different  words,  frequently  coalesce  in  poetry ;   thus  $tu£ 
becomes  a  monosyllable,  \pvaiy  a  dissyllable,  rj  OVK  are  pro- 
nounced as  one  syllable ;  this  union,  which  is  called  Synizesis,  or 
Synecphonesis,  is  most  used  in  genitives  ending  in  ewe  and  ewv, 

In  epic  poetry,  the  two  vowels  pronounced 


260  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

together  are  even  made  short  before  another  vowel  following, 
but  scarcely  any  where  except  in  the  second  syllable  of  a 
dactyl:  as,  Sii/S/oey  j^t^o^uevot.  The  correption  of  two 
short  vowels  conjoined  by  synecphonesis  is  very  uncommon; 
Pindar,  however,  appears  to  have  made  0eoe,  as  a  monosyl- 
lable, short.  A  synecphonesis  of  the  letter  v  with  another 
vowel  following  it  is  rather  uncommon,  although  used  in 
datives,  as  viitvt.  Of  i  too  and  a  following  vowel  the  synec- 
phonesis is  rare :  as  KapSiaQ.  so  in  Latin,  abietibus  ;  the 
synecphonesis  in  the  t  of  the  dative  singular  of  the  third 
declension  is  remarkable :  as  that  letter  cannot  be  there 
elided,  it  is  pronounced  together  with  a  following  vowel :  as, 
aaript  oirwptvijj)  tvaXijKiov.  That  synecphonesis  cannot  take 
place  in  datives  plural  is  apparent  from  their  assuming  the 
v  tyt^KvaTucbv  before  a  vowel :  and  the  i  in  those  datives 
cannot  be  elided  in  tho  Attic  dialect. 

9.  With  the  ancient  Epic  Poets  the  accent  had  great 
power  both  in  lengthening  syllables  on  which  it  was  placed, 
and  in  shortening  those  which   it  either  followed  or  pre- 
ceded; as,  AtoAou,  £7reu),  ayetjOQj/iEp,  etug  6  ravQ\  (as  stated 
before.) 

10.  The  Caesura,  and  the  Arsis,  or  elevation  of  the  voice, 
otherwise  called  the  metrical  Ictus,  have  the  effect  of  length- 
ening short  syllables. 

11.  Punctuation,  since  it  requires  a  stop  and  pause  of 
the  voice,  occasions  sometimes  a  short  final  syllable  in  cer- 
tain kinds  of  verses,  as  dochmiac,  to  be  made  long.     This 
takes  place  chiefly  after  compellation  or  address,  exclama- 
tion, and  interrogation :   and  that  too  among  the  Roman 
dramatic  writers  even  in  Trochaic  numbers.     Punctuation 
also  serves  in  some  places  to  excuse  hiatus. 

12.  Words  compounded  and  derived  follow  the  quantity 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  261 

of  their  primitives ;  as,  arTjuo?  from  Tip].  ''Am,  ipi,  j3p«,Suc>£«, 
are  short  in  composition. 

IIai>  in  the  beginning  of  compound  words  is  short :  as, 
irava\aiuv ;  ue,  (TVQ,  and  trvp  are  short  in  composition  :  as, 
<ri//3wnjc ;  A  privative  is  generally  short. 

13.  The  Doric  a  for  TJ  or  ov  is  long;  the  ^Eolic  a  is  short; 
as,  vv,u0a  ^>t'XTj ;  A  is  long  before  /ua  in  verbals  derived  from 
the  first  person  of  the  perfect  passive :  as,  opa/ua ;  nouns  in 
awv  lengthen  the  penultima  ;  as,  Maxawv  :   neuters  in  avov 
shorten  it ;   as,  Spiiravov  :  A  is  long  in  most  proper  names 
in  arije  and  ariQ  :  as,  Ei/^partje  ;  also  in  some  proper  names 
of  tbe  feminine  gender  in  at'c ;   as,   Nate;   but   masculines 
have  the  penult,  short,  as,  Tavat'c  ;  it  is  long  in  numerals  : 
as,  rptciKouLog  :  short  in  patronymics  in  aSrje,  as  flr/X»jVaSi}C  ; 
also  in  adverbs  in  OKIC  and  aict :  as,  ;roXXai«e  :  also  in  dimi- 
nutives in  aStov,  aictov,  aptov,  arior,   as,  So/oartov,   except 
those  from  long  primitives :  as,  QwpaKiov. 

14.  Patronymics  and  other  nouns  in  tvrj  are   generally 
long :  as,  Nij/olvj),   SWT!VT),  except  tiXaTrTvrj,  and  fern.  adj. 
from  masculines  in  tvoc,  as  Kf/aStvr?.    Also  nouns  in  trrje  and 
me,  as,  TroXlrj)?,  TroXiTtCj  except  some  verbals,  as, 

is  generally  short  in  diminutives  in  tov  and  ICLOI-.  as, 
except  t^arTSiov,  apyvp'tSiov,  kc.  The  latter  are  formed 
from  the  diminutives  1/j.aTiov ,  apyvptov,  and  are  by  Attic 
crasis  for  t/uaru&ov,  kc.  It  is_short  olsp_  in  adjectives  m 


s&,  avOpwirivog,  fcc.  except  op^plvog,  pTrtupTyqc,  which 
however  are  also  found  with  the  penult  short.  Also  in  de- 
rivatives hi  uric  and  tro? :  as,  icpTmc,  aQ&iros,  &c.  in  TKOC 
and  i/joe  :  as,  TrpaicrTKoc,  vocmjuoc,  frc.  also  in  patromnnics 
in  tSijC-'  as,  NtaroptSTjc,  etc.  diminutives  in  tStve,  as,  AvKtSevs; 
in  iXoc  ;  as,  vourTXcc,  &c.  Comparatives  in  ivy  are  short 
in  Homer,  lopg  in  Attic  writers.  Nouns  in  twv,  increasing 


262  THE    GllECIAN    DRAMA, 

short  in  the  genitive,  lengthen  the  penult,  as  'A/<07wv,  &c. 
increasing  long,  shorten  it :  as,  AturccrAiW  ;  the  penult,  is 
common  in  Kpoviuv,  'Qpiaiv. 

15.  The  penult,  of  verbals  in  vatg  is  short;   as,  \vaig ; 
also  of  polysyllable  nouns  in  UVTJ,  and  of  some  in  VTIJC,  as, 

rvvri,  /3/oaSurTjc :  also  of  diminutives  in  vAo?,  as, 
in  most  adj.  in  wot;  and  vpog  ;  as,  Triavvog, 
&c.  except  {(T^vpoe,  &c. — Y  is  long  in  verbals  ending  in 
vfj,o^  urijjo,  vrutp  ;  as,  AVJUO  :  generally  also  in  vroc, 
and  vne ;  as,  7rp£<T/3ur»K¥,  except  some  derived  from 
preterites,  as,  Aim>e,  Svroe,  Ouroe,  fyvrbs,  «foc.  and  their 
compounds. 

16.  Penultima  of  tenses  of  verbs.     Verbs  in  aw  have 
_j_    the  penult,  of  the  present  short ;  except  iicavw  and  m^avw. 

Verbs  in  tw  generally  have  the  penult,  of  the  present  long. 
Verbs  in  tvw,  as  $6iva),  have  the  penult,  of  the  present  long 
in  Homer,  short  in  the  Attic  tragic  writers.  Verbs  in 
vvtu,  v/ow,  and  u^w,  generally  have  the  penult,  of  the  pro- 
sent  long;  as,  lOvvw  :  but  verbs  derived  from  the  futures  of 
these  are  short ;  as,  Kvploj.  The  reduplication  of  verbs  in 
jui  is  short ;  as,  StSw/it.  Y  is  short  in  polysyllable  verbs  in 
vfii ;  except  in  the  singular  of  the  present  active,  and  the 
third  person  plural ;  as,  ZtvyvvfJii,  ^evyvvcrt ;  but  in  dis- 
syllables it  is  long  throughout ;  as,  SvOt,  tSurrjv.  Verbs  of 
the  fourth  conjugation,  particularly  those  in  vw  and  /oo>, 
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,  Kp~tvu>,  ticp'ivov, 
Kptvio,  KtxpiKa.  If  the  first  future  is  long  by  position  only, 
the  penultima  of  the  perfect  is  short,  as,  ypfyw, 


TIJE   GRECIAN    DRAMA.  263 

The  perfect  middle  generally  follows  the'  quantity  of  the 


second  aorist,  as,  HTUTTOV,  TfTvira ;  but  some  retain  the  long 


vowel  of  the  present;  as,  irlirpaya,  tcticpctya,  KJKplya,  rtr- 
plya,  epplya,  (StfipWa,  irtypiKa,  /jt/ttuxa,  &c.  In  the  Attic 
reduplication  the  penultima  is  short,  as,  6p^pv\a.  The 
doubtful  vowels  before  m  are  always  long,  as,  rirvfyaai) 
TiOvavi,  SftKvvo-t.  In  the  first  aorist  participle,  aaa  is  long, 
as.  rv^aaa.  In  the  first  future,  a,  t,  and  ^followed  by  g(i>, 


are  short,  as,  ytXaw,  ysXagtu,  vojut£fa>,  vo/tuga>  ;  but  a<r&>  i 


long  from  verbs  in  aa>  preceded  by  a  vowel,  or  in  pq&),  as, 


,  $pa(T(i)  ;  ttrcu  and  i>gtt)  are  long  from  verbs  in  to  pure. 
but  short  in  qyugcu,      Xaw,  tcvtru, 


1  7.  Penultima  of  nouns  and  adjectives  increasing  in  the 

'''.re.     A  is  short,  as,  <rw/uaroe;  except  in  nounsjnav, 

avog.,  as,  rtrav,    Ttravog,    (except   raAai/oc   and   /nAaro?.) 

The  Doric  genitive,  as,  Ar/ott'Sao,  povaawv  ;  and  the  follow- 

ing   words,   Ktpag,   K/oac,   <}>ptap,    v^ap,    /3Xa^,    0/oa£, 


,  and  all  in  a^  pure,  as,  oms.  Homer  makes  the  \ 
penult,  of  Ktparoc  short,  the  Attic  writers  long.  So  also  1  A 
he  makes  the  a  in  icaAoe  long  ;  the  Attic  and  Doric  poets 
short.  I  is  short,  as,  c/ote»  tptSog  ;  except  in  words  of  two 
terminations,  as,  StX^ci',  &A0(e,  £fA$Tvoe.  Monosyllables, 
as,  Si?,  Sivog  ;  but  Aie»  5"pfs,  <rr\%,  T«C,  Aty,  vti^,  are  short. 
Nouns  making  <0oc,  as,  o/arte,  opv'iOog,  and  those  making 
iSoc,  if  their  penult,  is  long,  as,  KVJJ^IC,  KVTj/utSoc  ;  also 
nouns  in  t!-,  t-y°e  or  tk-oc,  as,  /.mems,  $oivi£  ;  and  sometimes 
nouns  in  m,  ITJ,  as,  otKta,  i»7rf/oo7rA7?j,  &c.  Y  is  short,  as, 
Trup,  7ri«poe  ;  except  in  words  of  two  terminations,  as,  Qopttvv 
and  ^>O/OKI>CJ  with  |3op/3u£,  YU^,  Kr;pw£,  ?of§u^,  KOKKU^,  and 
Thus,  a  doubtful  vowel,  in  the  last  syllable  of  the 


264  THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA. 

nominative,  generally  retains  its  quantity  in  the  penult,  of 
the  other  cases ;  as,  ytyae,  yiyaai ;  ai//7e,  tSoe,  7<n,  &c. 
The  doubtful  vowels  before  <n  are  long  in  the  dative  plural, 
when  the  dative  singular  is  long  by  position,  as,  rtyaai. 

18.  Quantity  of  the  last  syllable.  A,  I,  Y,  final  are  short; 
as,  TtTv<f>a,  rf&jpu,  Sajcpu  :  but  words  in  Sa,  pa,  0a,  and  o 
pure,  have  the  a  long,  with  the  following  exceptions, 
ajKVpa,  aKavOa,  KtpicUjOa,  yttyvpa,  o\vpa,  ff 
atyvpa,  ravaypa ;  compounds  of  juerpw,  as,  ytwfUTpa ;  pa 
preceded  by  a  dipthong,  as,  juoljoa,  (except  aupa,  Xavpa, 
TrXeu/oa,  aavpa ;)  verbals  in  rpm,  as,  $a\Tpia ;  derivatives 
from  adjectives  in  »)?,  as,  aXi'iOiia ;  Sia,  irorvta,  ta,"  /*ta, 
ttpcu",  aYyeXifta,  KtoSem,  vaTTEta,  jSatri'Xeia.  Duals  of  the 
first  declension  have  the  a  long,  as,  juovcra  ;  also  oxytons  of 
the  first  declension,  as,  \apa ;  accusatives  in  a  from  nouns 
in  cue,  generally  in  the  Attic  dialect ;  vocatives  from  proper 
names  in  ac,  as,  IlaXXa  ;  the  Doric  a,  as,  Tra-ya  for  TTTj-yfj ; 
but  the  ^Eolic  a  is  short,  and  hence  the  Latin  nominative 
in  a  is  short ;  the  word  euXa/ca  has  the  a  long.  The  names 
of  the  letters  have  i  long,  as,  £7,  TTJ,  as  also  the  word  K/CH  ; 
contracted  words,  as,  ^urjrl  for  p'/ru  ;  the  Attic  paragoge,  as, 
TOUT!,  ourocrt,  except  the  dative  plural,  as,  o-otn'i.  The 
imperfect,  second  aorist,  and  imperative  of  verbs  in  v/zt, 
have  v  long,  as,  e^v,  O/ULVV  ;  vocatives  from  uc,  as,  juu ;  the 
names  of  letters,  as,  juu,  with  ypv ;  avrinpv  is  generally 
lengthened  by  the  arsis. 

19.  AN,  IN,  YN  final  are  short,  with  the  following  excep- 
tions— Av  long :  words  circumflexed,  as  Trav.  Oxytons 
masculine,  as  Ttrav.  These  adverbs,  ayav,  tvav,  Xmv, 
•jrtpav.  The  accusative  of  the  first  declension,  whoso  nomi- 
native is  long,  as,  ^xXi'ov.  Iv  long:  words  of  two  termina- 
tions, as,  &X<£ii>  and  &X0U1 ;  fytiv  and  vfuv,  when  circum- 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  265 

flexed  on  the  last ;  TIV,  Doric  for  <rol ;  KOVIV,  irpiv  is  some- 
times long  in  Homer ;  nouns  in  iv,  ivoc,  as,  pr\-yfilv.  Yv 
long:  words  of  two  terminations,  as,  QopKvv,  and  ^O/OKUC  ; 
accusatives  from  ve  long,  as,  o<f>pvvi  the  imperfect  and 
second  Saorist  of  verbs  in  u/ui,  as,  tStinvvv ;  together  with 
IJLVV  and  vvv ;  but  when  vuv  is  an  enclitic,  it  is  generally 
short,  as,  rot  vvv. 

20.  AP,  YP  final  are  short,  except  nap,  i£a/o,  ^/ota/s,  irvp. 

21.  AS,  IS,  YS  final  are  short :  except  Ac  long;  nomi- 
natives of  participles,  as  TU^OC  ;  all  cases  of  the  first  de- 
clension, as  rojutac,  fiovaa^   (but  the  Doric  accusative  is 
short,  as  vvfityaq  ;)  plural  accusatives  in  ac,  from  the  long  a 
in  the  accusative  singular  of  nouns  in  sue,  as  'nnriag ;  nouns 
in  ac,  avroc,  as  Atac ;    with  p.(\ag  and  raActc.     If  long : 
words  of  two  terminations,  as,  SfX^ic  and  $i\(f>tv ;  hyper- 
dissyllables,  with  two  short  syllables  before  the  last,  as, 
KaAajtzTc  ;  nouns  in  tc  increasing  long,  as,  KV^Q  ;  with  KIC, 
Ktoc ;    o/avic,    which   makes   o/awoc   and   opi'I0oc,   has  the 
termination  common.      Y?  long:  words   of  two  termina- 
tions, as,  (jtopicvg  and  <f>opitvv ;  monosyllables,  as,  /uve ;  with 
KWUVQ  ;  oxytons  making  the  genitive  in  oe  pure,  as,  7rA»j0uc, 
but  these  are  sometimes  short  ;  imperfects,  second  aorists, 
and  participles  of  verbs  in  vjui,  as,  t^vc, 


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. 

JL  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 
J-  respects  both  the  time  and  order  of  the  syllables.  The 
Rhythm  of  a  Dactyl  and  Anapaest  is  the  same,  the  Metro 
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  recessarily 
turns  to  the  beginning  of  another.  Scanning^-  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  Paeon 

2nd  Paeon        .  . 

3rd  Paeon 

4th  Paeon 


-    1     Two  times, 


-     J 


Three  times, 


f  From  \dv-ria,  to  abuse.     Archilocus 

used  it  in  satire  .  .          **  ™ 

From  Tpe'x*"1,  to  mn— also  called 
Choree,  from  its  use  in  the  chorus  ~" 

So  called  from  its  quantity        -         w  vy 

Because  used  lv  raZf  crroviaTf  -  -   — 

From  uvairaicn/,  being  struck  con- 
trary  to  the  dactyl      .  .  v 


Four  time?,    <J  From  3a«™Xoc,  a  finger 

Also  called  Scnlius,  from  its  use  in 
Scolia  or  catches 

From  trpoctXeuovio^he  word  of  com- 
mand   .... 
'Because  invented  or  used  by   the 
Cretans  . 

Used  in  Dithyrambic  Hymns,  in  ho- 
nor of  Bacchus 

Or  Palimbacchius,  the  converse  of 
the  Bacchius 


» Five  times,    •« 


is  — 

w  v>» 

—  V 

V  — 


So  called  from  their  use  in  the  Pae- 
onic  Hymns. 


*  The  Greek  term  for  verse  is  erl^o?,  a  rank,  or  row,  on  account  of 
the  arrantrement  of  the  words;  hence  V'"'X'°y»  a  hemistich,  or  half  a 
verse,  and  Sirn^ov,  a  distich,  &c, 

f  From  "  Scanderc,"  to  climb. 


268 


THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA. 


Molossus 
Choriambus    - 
Antispast 
Ionic  a  Majore 
Ionic  a  Minore 
Diiambus 
Ditrocha-us     . 

1st  Epitrit 
2nd  Epitrit 
3rd  Epitrit 
4th  Epitrit 

Dispondeus 


>  Six  times,     -4 


From  the  Molossi,  who  used  it  -         -   —   _ 

Compounded  of  a  choree  and  an 
iambus  -  .  -  "  V  V 

From  drawing  opposite  to  a  Cho- 
riambus .  .  .'**-. 

The  favorite  foot  of  the  lonians 


—    —  vy  v/ 


Ditto 

The  Iambic  Syzygy 
The  Trochaic  Syzygy    - 


The  Epitrits  arc  so  called  because 
they  have  three  long  syllables,  and  ~  v 
TpiTov  a  third  short  one,  ent  in   _ 
addition. 


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  — 


are 


isochronous ; 


-  are 
v  not. 


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   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  269 

Dipodise  ;  (thus  Dactylics  are  scanned  without,  Anapaest  ics 
with  Dipodiae ;)  if  of  less  than  four  times,  always  with 
Dipodiae  ;  if  of  more,  always  without  them.  Thus  Iambics 
and  Trochaics  always  with  Dipodiae,  but  Choriambics, 
Antispastics,  &c.  always  without  them. 

7.  A  Metre,  in  its  signification  of  two  feet,  is  otherwise 
called  Syzygy  (cru^uyta),   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's foot :  "  Pede  ter  percusso"  is  Horace's  phrase  when 
speaking  of  the  Iambic  Trimeter. 

9.  Verses  are  denominated  Acatalectic,  Catalectic,  Bra- 
chycatalectic,  Hypercatalectic  or  Hypenneter,  and  Acepha- 
lous.* 

An  Acatalectic  verse,  derived  from  a  priv.  and  KaTaXrVyEtv, 
to  cease  or  stop,  is  one  which  contains  its  exact  number  of 
feet  and  syllables. 

A  Catalectic  verse,  derived  from  KardXi'iytiv,  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 :  for  instance,  an 
Iambic  Trimeter  Acatajectie. 


270  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

two.  Thus  in  Dactylics,  a  verse  ending  with  a  Trochee 
would  be  termed  Catalectic  on  a  disyllable,  and  if  it  wanted 
two  syllables,  it  would  be  Catalectic  on  one  syllable.  It  is 
a  general  law  of  Catalectics,  that  the  foot  before  the 
Catalectic  syllable  should  be  pure,  i.  e.  be  the  foot  from 
which  the  metre  is  named.  The  last  metre  of  a  Catalectic 
verse,  especially  in  Trochaics  and  Iambics,  is  called  Kara- 


A  Brachycatalectic  verse,  from  flpaxys,  short,  and 
KaraX?'jyai/,  is  a  verse  which  is  deficient  by  a  whole  foot. 

An  Hypercatalectic,  (from  virtp  and  jcaraXrryav),  or 
Hypermeter,  (from  vrrtp  and  jut'rpov,  a  measure,)  is  a  verse 
which  is  redundant  either  by  a  syllable  or  an  entire  foot. 

An  Acephalous  verse,  (from  a  priv.  and  K60aX?},  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  KwXov  ;  that 
in  which  they  are  incomplete,  or  which  does  not  consist  of 
entire  syzygies,  is  called  KOjiijua. 

11.  A  composition  in  verse,  which  consists  of  only  one 
kind  of  metre,  is  called  by  grammarians,  carmen  JUOVOKW- 
Xoi>,    (from  juovoe,    solus,   and   KwXov,   membrum  ;)  if  it 
contain  two  kinds  of  metre,  it  is  termed  S/KtuXov  ;  if  three, 
TpiK(t)\ov  ;  if  four,  TerpoKwXoi/.     So  again,  if  it  consist  of 
independent  verses,  which  form  no  stanza,    it  is   called 
Hovoarpotyov,   (JUOVOQ,  and  rrrpo^?},  versus  ;  )  if  it  consist  of 
stanzas,  containing  each  two  verses,  it  is  termed  StarpoQov  ; 
if  of  stanzas  of  three  verses,  rptarpoQov  ;  if  of  stanzas  of 
four  verses,  Tirpaarpo^ov. 

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  hepthemimr,  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. 

13.  Caesura,  called  by  the  Greeks  TOJUT/,  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  tyUatic,*  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  triem  ir.ieral,  occurring  at  the 
third  half  foot ;  the  penthemimeral,  at  the  fifth  ;  the  hepthe- 
mimeral,  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  dees  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  minore,  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  caesura  is  also  called  masculine,  and  the  trochaic 
feminine. 


272 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 


positio ;  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  Anapsest  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  Anapsest.  In  Anapaestic  verse,  on  the  last  of  an 
Anapsest,  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  Anapsest  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  a  iw/oouw,  "canendi  initium 
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  niajore, 
Ionic  a  minore,  Paeonic.  There  are  also  Cretics,  Bac- 
chiacs,  &;c.  kc. 

17.  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, 
Simonides,  &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  Parcemiacus. 

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 
anapaest  into  the  first  alone,  except  in  the  case  of  proper 
names,  when  an  anapaest  is  admissible  into  any  of  the  first 
five  feet.  The  anapaest  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  anapaest  to  the 
first  foot  applies  to  the  choric,  as  well  as  to  the  diverbial 
trimeters.  The  initial  anapaest  of  the  trimeter  is  hardly 
perceptible  in  its  effect  on  the  verse ;  in  shorter  iambic 
verses  it  produces  a  livelier  movement.  The  initial  ana- 
paest 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  anapaest  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 
unskilfulness  on  the  part  of  the  poet  not  to  be  able  so  to  distribute 
these  words  as  to  avoid  the  anapsest.  He,  contrary  to  Person's  canon, 
holds  that  the  augment  was  omitted,  and  thus  an  iambus  formed. 


THE   GllECiAN    DRAMA. 


275 


had  the  same  license  as  proper  names,  but  is  doubtful  with 
respect  to  patronymics.  He  has  also  observed  that  the 
plays  of  a^Eschylus  afford  only  one  instance  of  the  anapaest 
of  the  proper  name.  In  two  cases  he  introduced  a  proper 
name  by  substituting  a  chorianibus  for  the  first  dipodia, 
but  these  passages  have  been  corrected  by  Blomfield.  The 
following  is  a 

Scale  of  the  Iambic  Trimeter  Acatalectic. 


1 

2 

! 

13 

1 

4 

5 

6 

vy  vy  vy 

v/x/v 

V 

vw 

- 

W  V 

V/    V    V/ 

W- 

—   \j  v/ 

- 

v  vy 

v/  — 

Name. 

18.  The  process  by  which  Porson  infers  the  inadrnissi- 
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,  'Aimyovrje  wras  pronounced  'Avr'yoi>»}e ;  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  Svapovcrov ;  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  caesurai 
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  prsecedat." 

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 
caBsura  there  are  four  kinds  ; 

(1)  When  the  first  syllable  of  the  third  foot  is  a  short 
syllable  ;  as, 

KivSvvog  co-^e  j  So/oi  irtativ  'EXXijvtKtJ.     Hec.  5. 

(2)  When  a  short  syllable  after  elision  : 
Tlarrip  ti/'  tt  TTOT'  ]  'iXt'ou  Tfi^jj  7rl<rot.     Hec.  11. 

(3)  When  it  is  a  long  syllable  : 

Aarttfv  'fi/  AtS»jc  |  \wplg  tpKiarai  0£<Uv.     Hec.  2. 

(4)  When  it  is  a  long  syllable  after  elision  : 

Kai  Ttv^fTat  TOV&  |  oi»8'  a^Mprf-og  0i'X(uv.      Hec.  42. 
Of  the  second  caesura  there  are  eight  kinds  : 
(1)  When  it  occurs  at  the  end  of  a  word  of  two  or 
more  syllables  without  elision  : 

*Hicu)  v£Kpwv  KfvOfJiwva  \  nal  fTKorov  vfiXaf.      Hec.  1. 

(-2)   \\"ith  elision  : 

IloXXwv  Xoyojv  ivprjpaO'  \  ware  /un  Qavtlv.     Hec.  248. 

(3)  When  the  short  syllable  is  an  enclitic  : 

KE/I/I)  yap  wXfirav  viv  \  fig  Tpoiav  T'  ayti.     Hec.  266. 

(4)  When  not  an  enclitic,  but  a  word  which    cannot 
begin  a  sentence  : 


Hec.  319. 

*  The  penthemimeral  occurs  about  four  times  as  often  as  the  hep. 
themimeral. 


278  THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

(5)  When  the  word  refers  to  what  has  preceded,  but 
might  begin  a  sentence : 

'En-si  TraTrjp  ovrog  trog  \  ov  6pr)V£tg  ad.  Soph.  Electr.  520. 

(6)  When,  in  the  same  case,  the  short  syllable  is  formed 
by  elision : 

'AAX'  our'  l/iot  Ka\bv  ro'g1  \  taTiv  oure  aoL     Phil.  1288. 

(7)  When  there  is  a  pause  or  break  in  the  sense  after 
the  third  foot,  succeeded  by  a  monosyllable,  without  eli- 
sion: 

'AXX'  ov  TroXic  crruyeT,  <ru  |  Ttjur/<J£te  Tafyitj.  Sep.  Cont. 
Theb.  1040. 

(8)  Under  the  same  circumstances,  with  elision : 
*Orav  yap  tv  ^>jOovfj£,  ro(?'  [  7)y/j<ra  <ru  V(ov.    Soph.  Electr. 

1027. 

In  the  two  last  cases,  the  rhythm  is  less  pleasant ;  but, 
as  Hermann  remarks,  it  is  adapted  to  solemn  and  impas- 
sioned language. 

26.  The  Quasi-Ccesiira  is  another  division    of  the  sena- 
rius,  which  takes  place  either  when  a  word  suffers  elision  at 
the  end  of  the  third  foot,  or  when  7',  S',  /t',  <r',  r',  are  sub- 
joined to  that  foot ;  as, 

jui7  $£$£(70'  j  lyoj  VEKOV  Tlapiv.     Hoc.  387. 
irapOtvoiq  T'  |  oTrojSXfTrroc  julra.     Hec.  355. 
In  these  cases  there  is  either  a  suspension  of  the  sense, 
or  of  the   continuous  flow  of  the  verse,  which  tends  to 
obviate  the  labour  of  recitation  that  would  otherwise  take 
place. 

27.  The  Ccesural  Pause  is  a  division  in  the  fifth  foot, 
which  is  thus  explained  by  Person  :  *"  If  a  senarius  end 

*  Person  gives  this  rule  incorrectly  :  the  fifth  foot  could  not  be  a 
tribrach,  and  at  the  same  time  form  part  of  the  concluding  word  sup- 
posed to  be  a  cretic  ;  the  word  tribrach  should  be  omitted. 


THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA.  279 

in  a  word  which  forms  a  erotic,  and  a  word  of  more  than 
one  syllable  precede,  the  fifth  foot  must  be  an  iambus  or  a 
tribrach."  The  rule  holds  good  if  the  cretic  is  resolved  into 
a  trochee  and  a  long  syllable,  or  into  a  long  syllable  and  an 
iambus,  provided  the  long  syllable  be  an  article  or  preposi- 
tion, or  any  word*  which  relates  more  to  what  follows  than 
to  what  precedes.  This  canon  is  thus  expressed  by  Elmsley : 
"  The  first  syllable  of  the  fifth  foot  of  a  Senarius  must  be 
short,  if  it  ends  a  word  of  two  or  more  syllables,  unless 
the  second  syllable  of  the  same  foot  is  a  monosyllable, 
which  is  incapable  of  beginning  a  verse."  It  is  thus  ex- 
pressed by  Gaisford,  ';  The  Tragic  writers  seldom  or  never 
neglected  the  pause  ;  that  is,  they  seldom  or  never  divide  a 
spondee  in  the  fifth  place  between  two  hyper-monosyllabic 
words."1  The  following  are  examples  of  this  rule  : 

Kpinrrovra  X^Pa  Ka-'-   irpoawirov   tpTraXiv  :  and  not  Tovfi- 
Hec.  343. 

§6  rov/tov  KOI  ffov  oi»K£r'  tori  Srj  :   Or.  1079. 
KaAwc  fj.lv  tirrag,  Ovya-tp,  aAAa  TW  »caA(j>.  Hec.  382. 
But  this  canon  does  not  apply  when  the  second  syllable  o* 
the  fifth  foot,  (viz.  the  monosyllable  before  the  iambus,)  is 
connected  with  what  precedes,  as  being  a  word  which  can- 
not begin  a  verse,  (such  are  ai>,  au,  700,  oi,  817,  fj.lv,  /itjv, 
o5v,)  or  an  enclitic,  except  pronouns  when  emphatic ;  as, 

oTTfvSw/uEi',  tjKOvtitfjtv'  r}jov  fjoi  |  floor.  Hec.  505. 
but  this  verse.  KOI  71")?  ^t'A/jc  o\0ouri  KovtyOw  KOI  ro^y.  is 
faulty,  because  KCU  is  a  monosyllable  capable  of  beginning 
a  verse. 

It  is  is  to  be  remarked,  that  in  all  the  examples,  where 
eiv  (which  most  frequently  occurs  in  this  position)  forms  the 

*  Under  this  head  of  monosyllables,  are  embraced  T/V>  *i-r»  when 
interrogative,  with  wj->  ik  *»;,  and  the  like. 


280  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

second  syllable  of  the  spondee,  it  immediately  follows  its 
verb,  which  always  suffers  elision.  The  three  following  are 
only  apparent  exceptions :  (1)  Where  the  compounds  of 
£?e,  as  ov£t?e,  jUjjSeic:,  are  written  as  one  word,  when  they 
should  be  written  as  two;  as,  a/nfr'ntpov  aTroXtt^Otv  yap  ov&v 
Oartpov,  Phoen.  775,  where  ov&v  should  be  ov8'  tv;  that  they 
should  be  thus  written  is  evident,  from  the  particle  av  being 
often  interposed  between  them,  and  from  the  trisyllabic 
forms,  OU§E  a?  and  fir\ol  ac,  having  come  into  use  towards 
the  close  of  the  Aristophanic  period.  (2)*  Where  the 
dative  cases  of  av  and  lyw  are  written  as  spondees ;  thus, 
i]}Mv ;  whereas,  they  should  bo  written,  i^uiv,  v/utv,  or 

,  vfj.iv ;  as  Sophocles,  to  whose  plays  the  remark  applies, 
uses  these  pronouns  as  trochees ;  as,  7/  VOVQ  ivsariv  OVTII? 
v/jiiv  e-yytvjjc*  Electr.  1328,  here  vfuv  would  be  inadmissi- 
ble. (3)  Where  the  first  syllable  is  prevented  from  being 
short  by  the  initial  consonants  of  the  cretic ;  as,  ^tttc  /ut  v 
ovv  Iwjuev,  oi/Sc  i//auojutv,  Hec.  717;  but  here  there  is  not 
only  no  pause  in  the  sense,  but  the  concluding  words  form  a 
quinquesyllabic  termination,  ouSfTreravojutv,  and  the  spondee 
is  as  unobjectionable  as  if  \vf.iavri)pio^  or  any  other  such 
wrord,  concluded  the  line. 

Dissyllables,  in  which  the  vowel  of  the  second  syllable  of 
the  fifth  foot  is  elided,  are  considered  as  monosyllables,  as, 

OTroTa  Kicraog  $pv<)£,  OTTWC  rfjcrS'  |  t^o//at.  Hec.  398. 
•f-This  canon  is  as  applicable  to  those  verses  in  which  the 
first  syllable  of  the  fifth  foot  is  a  monosyllable,  which  can- 
not begin  a  verse,  as  to  those  in  which  it  terminates  a  word 

*  Sophocles  alone  of  the  tragedians,  shortened  the  last  syllable  in 
•*i/c*~y  and  V/AW. 

•}•  Hence  this  verse  is  wrong — T/W  tiyws  Ifovui*'  Ix  <yif  T«  ^aOto- :  for 
7*f  readSf,  (Ed.  C,  115, 


THE   GP.ECIAX    DRAMA.  281 

of  two  or  more  syllables.  It  may  be  laid  down  as  a  general 
rule,  that  the  first  syllable  of  the  fifth  foot  must  be  short, 
if  followed  by  the  slightest  pause  or  break  in  the  sense. 

Elmsley  remarks,  that  he  has  discovered  no  violation  of 
Person's  canon  in  the  fragments  of  Simonides  and  the 
other  early  iambic  poets,  from  whom  the  tragedians  pro- 
bably derived  it. 

Thus  it  appears  that  there  are  only  three  cases  in  which 
the  fifth  foot  may  be  a  spondee : 

(1)  When  both  syllables  are  contained  in  the  same  word. 

(2)  When  the  first  syllable  of  the  fifth  foot  is  a  mono- 
syllable which  is  capable  of  beginning  a  verse,  and  which  is 
not  disjoined  from  the  following  syllable  by  any  pause  in    . 
the  sense. 

(3)  When  the  second  syllable  is  a  monosyllable,  which, 

by  being  incapable  of  beginning  a  sentence  or  a  verse,  is  in     5 
some  measure  united  to  the  preceding  syllable. 

Of  these  three  cases  there  are  several  varieties ;  the  fol- 
lowing are  varieties  of  the  first  case,  when  both  syllables 
are  contained  in  the  same  word : 

(1)  When  the  spondee  is  one  word. 

(2)  When  the  fourth  and  fifth,  or  part  of  the  fourth 
and  fifth,  are  contained  in  the  same  word. 

(3)  When  the  fifth  and  sixth,  or  the  fifth  and  part  of 
the  sixth,  are  contained  in  the  same  word 

Of  the  second  case  there  are  also  three  varieties : 

(1)  When  the  cretic,  which  the  monosyllable  precedes, 
is  formed  by  one  word. 

(2)  When  the  cretic  is  formed  of  a  monosyllable  and 
an  iambus ;  and  of  this  there  are  two  cases,  viz.  when  the 
monosyllable  is  capable  of  beginning  a  verse,  and  when  it 
is  not, 


282  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

(3)  When  the  cretic  is  formed  of  a  trochee  and  a  syllable. 
Of  the  third  case  there  are  two  varieties  : 

(1)  When  the  first  syllable  is  the  final  of  an  hypennono- 
syllabic  word. 

(2)  When  the  first  syllable  is  a  monosyllabic  word ;  of 
this  there  are  two  cases,  viz.  when  that  syllabic  is  capable 
of  beginning  a  verse,  and  when  it  is  not. 

Examples  of  all  these  varieties  may  easily  be  found  in  the 
plays. 

Hermann  makes  three  exceptions  to  Person's  canon  on 
the  csesural  pause,  viz.  when  the  subject  requires  a  more 
moliniinons  and  difficult  movement  in  the  numbers,  as, 
"ArActe  6  £*A|&Mtfi  vwToie  ovpavov,  Eurip.  Ion.  i. ;  in  the 
case  of  a  proper  name,  as,  vwfiwv,  o  T  i<r0A6e  'ApiofiapSog, 
2ap§E<jtv :  Pers.  321  ;  and  when  the  hepthemimeral  caesura 
occurs. 

28.  The  tragic  writers  never  admit  that  structure  of  the 
words  which  divides  the  line  into  three  entire  iambic  dipo- 
diae,  like  the  artificial  verse  preserved  by  Athenaeus,  and 
attributed  to  Castorion  of  Soli,  viz.  <TE  TOV  |3oAo<e  |  VI^OKTV- 
iroig  |  <W\ei'jU£jOov.     Such  verses  are  destitute  of  all  variety. 
Castorion  is  said  to  have  composed  an  entire  poem  of  such 
verses. 

29.  Hermann  contends,  in  opposition  to  Person,  that  the 
second  and  third  feet,  and  also  the  third  and  fourth,  may  be 
comprised  in  one  word,  the  harshness  of  such  a  rhythm 
being  well  adapted  to  some   subjects.     On  some  occasions, 
he  thinks  that  harshness  is  taken  off  by  another  caesura  ;   in 
other  cases  there  is  no  caesura,  as  he  thinks  verses  entirely 
destitute  of  caesuras  are  frequent,  namely  those,  the  several 
feet  of  which  are  contained  in  separate  words. 

SO,  The  tragedians  might  omit  the  augment  in  passages 


THE    GRBCIAX    DRAMA. 

formed  upon  the  model  of  epic  poetry,  *ueh  as  narrations  of 
messengers,  which  are  termed  /o>jff«e  ayytXiKat,  hence  some 
verses  have  been  rid  of  anapaests,  wliich  vitiated  them ; 
they  also  occasionally  used  \P^V  ^or  i\/)l"'v'  an<^  a^vays 
avtiiya,  Ka6(%6fJir)v,  Ka&'jU'J1'?  and  naBtvSov ;  except  in  these 
cases,  the  Attic  writers  never  dropped  the  augment. 

31.  *Porson  has  observed,  that  the  particles  re  and  ye 
cannot  be  admitted  in  a  senarius  as  the  second  syllable  of  a 
trisyllabic  foot ;  the  same  particles  also  cannot  stand  as 
the  first  syllable  in  trochaic  verse. 

32.  In  the  later  tragedy,  the  use  of  the  tribrach  is  much 
more  frequent,  and  there  is  altogether  a  greater  negligence 
in   the  numbers ;  so   that  even  the  tribrach,  which   is  in 
place  of  a  trochee,  is  not,  according  to  ancient  usage,  com- 
prised in  one  word,  or  at  least  in  a  preposition  and  noun, 
as  8ta  juax*ie,  but  is  allowed  to  be  formed  from  several 
words. 

33.  According  to  Hermann,  iambic  numbers  differ  from 

O      _  .    /         -  -      -  j         i      i   __-j-rn -  --n-  _  I 

trochaic,  only  in  having  an  anacrusis :  lie  therefore  scans 
the  iambic  trimeter  as  if  it  were  trochaic,  viz.  by  cutting 
off  a  syllable  at  the  beginning,  and  then  forming  two 
trochaic  dipodise,  followed  by  a  cretic.  Dawes  scans  the 
part  as  far  as  the  penthemimeral  caesura  as  iambic,  and  the 
remainder  as  trochaic. 

34-.  The  following  species  of  iambic  verse  are  to  be  found 
in  the  choruses  of  tragedy,  viz.  the  manometer,  whose  use  is 
very  rare  among  all  poets ;  it  occurs,  however,  in  systems 

This  rule  may  be  thus  extended: — In  tragic  iambics,  the  second 
syllable  of  a  tribrach  or  of  a  dactyl,  ought  not  to  be  either  a  monosylla- 
ble, which  is  incapable  of  beginning  a  verse,  as,  <*»,  ?«/>»  3«,  p-i*,rt, rt?, 
&c.  or  the  last  syllable  of  a  word.  This  rule  is  not  strictly  observed  by 
the  comic  writers. 


284  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

of  dimeters  oftener  than  elsewhere :  the  manometer  hyper- 
catalectic,  or  penthemimer  ;  the  dimeter  Irachy-catalectic 
(Euripidean)  ;  the  dimeter  catalectic,  or  hepthemimer  (Ana- 
creontic) ;  the  dimeter  acatalectic  (  Archilochian  or  Aristo- 
plmnian)  ;  this  species  was  used  by  lyric  poets  and  come- 
dians, as  well  as  by  tragedians  ;  when  tragedians  use 
systems  of  this  kind,  they  are  accustomed  to  conclude  them 
with  a  verse  of  another  species ;  this  species  is  used  by 
Horace,  Epod.  iii.  12.  T/te  dimeter  hypercatalectic(  Alcaic), 
used  also  by  Horace,  Od.  i.  37,  15  ;  the  trimeter  Irachy- 
catalectic  (Alcmanic)  ;  the  trimeter  catalectic  (Hipponac- 
tean),  used  also  by  Horace,  Od.  ii.  18. 

35.  The  comic  trimeter  admits  anapaests  into  every 
place  but  the  sixth,  and  a  dactyl  into  the  fifth,  with  this 
restriction,  that  a  tribrach  or  dactyl  immediately  before  an 
anapaest  is  inadmissible  ;  caesuras  are  neglected,  and  a  spon- 
dee admitted  into  the  fifth  place  without  restrictions,  or 
any  regard  to  the  law  of  the  cretic  termination,  and  even 
when  a  dactyl  occupies  the  fifth  place,  the  modes  of  con- 
cluding the  verse  which  actually  occur  are  those  most  di- 
rectly unlike  to  the  tragic  conclusion.  The  true  constitution 
of  the  comic  senarius  was  first  discerned  by  Dawes ;  the 
reason  he  assigns  against  the  concurrence  of  a  dactyl  and 
anapaest  is,  the  interval  of  four  syllables  from  ictus  to  ictus 
which  it  would  produce,  when  the  lawful  extent  of  that  in- 
terval can  only  be  three.  On  the  trochaic  scale  of  scansion, 
viz.  by  placing  a  cretic  before  the  trimeter,  the  redundance 
of  a  syllable  in  the  vulgar  text  is  instantly  discovered,  thus 
the  following  line  is  defective ;  avrbg,  KOKI^V  tyf,vtro  jiuj, 
Tf/oa,  Kravwv,;  Orest.  499.  The  trochaic  scale  instantly 
detects  the  redundant  syllable,  aXXa  vvv  avj-og  KQKKDV^  tyc- 
VITQ  ftrjrtjoa  Kravwv, ;  the  line  is  corrected  thus,  by  Person, 
/w»?r!p  lytvtTQ 


THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA.  285 

36.  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  3»/XaS»)  or  aXXa  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   catalectie.    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 

*  Duubar  makes  the  ictus  fall  on  the  last  of  the  iambus,  spondee,  and 
anapaest,  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    D1UMA. 


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. 


vy        —             V,'        — 

v   -      b   ~ 

"    -       v- 

—       ^ 

—  \J  \,/ 

vyvy»        vy^i/"* 

\j\j- 

Ivv 

Elmsley       wvy- 

recipit. 

Proprii       ^v  — 

nominis. 

wv- 

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,  -ith, 


T1IE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  287 

and  6th  of  the  tetrameter.  The  structure  of  the  tetrameter 
eatalectic  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  v*  : 
in  the  middle  of  a  word  or  after  an  article,  &e.  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  septeniirius  and  comicus  quaJ.- 
ratus,  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  paeon  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  Evpnr&ftov  TiatraptcrKaict- 
itaav\\afiov  by  Hephsestion,  who  has  given  the  following 
specimen  of  it. 

'Etjioc  avi\  linrQTag  \  i^tXa/jf^ev  aarijp. 
Twenty-five  of  these  verses  occur  together  in  the  Wasps 
of  Aristophanes. 

39.  In  dimeter  iambics,  the  comic  poets,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  eatalectic  dipodia.  appear  to  admit  anapaests 
into  every  place,  but  more  frequently  into  the  first  and 
third,  than  into  the  second  and  fourth.     They  frequently 
employ  systems  of  dimeters,    terminated  by  a  eatalectic 
verse,  and  connected  in  one  unbroken  tenor  of  numbers,  so 
that  not  only  may  words  be  divided  in  the  ends  of  the 


288  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

verses,  but  even  the  hiatus  and  the  doubtful  syllable  are 
excluded,  and  the  last  arsis  may  be  resolved  ;  these  systems 
are  also  found  in  Plautus. 

40.  The  comic  poets  did  not  divide  words  between  two 
verses,    except  jocularly ;    the   Greeks  never   admitted   a 
spondee  into  an  even  place  of  an  iambic  verse  ;  i.  e.  into 
the  2nd,  4th,  and  6th  ;  the  Latins  often  into  the  2nd  and 
4th,  but  never  into  the  6th. 

41.  The  lame  or  halting  trimeter,   called  by  the  Greeks 
<rica£wi;,  as  also  Hipponactean,  from  Hipponax,  a  writer  of 
iambics,  has  this  peculiarity,  that  its  last  dipodia  consists  of 
an  antispastus.     The  tragedians  abstained  altogether  from 
this  metre,  nor  did  the   comedians  use  it,   unless  perhaps 
with  allusion  to  the  iambic  writers. 

42.  The  iambic  tetrameter  acatalectic,   called  Boiscius 
from  its  inventor  Boiscus,  is  not  used  by  the  Greek  trage- 
dians and  comedians.     It  is  used  by  Greek  iambic  writers, 
and  by  the  Latin  dramatists,  who  call  it  octonarius. 

43.  The  satiric  trimeter  preserves  for  the  most  part  the 
gravity  of  tragedy ;  but  as  the  species  of  drama  in  which 
it  is  used  unites  mirth  with  gravity,  it  was  allowable  to 
employ  the  anapaest  sometimes,  not  only  in  the  first  foot, 
and  that  too  an  anapaest  consisting  of  several  words,  but 
in  the  middle  of  a  verse  also,  and  in  any  word.     The  Cy- 
clops affords  some  examples. 

44.  The  following  are  examples  of  the  different  species 
of  iambic  verse  used  in  the  choruses  of  tragedy. 

Again.  187.  Monom.  acat.  jSporttw  |  aXat. 
Hec.  913.   Monom.  hypercat.    or  penthem. 

tVOTT    [   TjOtOV. 

Hec.  1066.  Dim.  brachycat.  TtKvuv  \  tjuwv  | 
Hec.  936.  Dim.  catal.  or  hephtheiniin.  a\aa  \  TO/OWV  |  rig 
ot  I  £ve. 


THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 


289 


Or.  150.  Dim.  hypercat.  or/oe^ae  j  Iff!'  A3  j  -yov  OTTO  |  £0? 
«f '  5  |  TI.  Hor.  Od.  1.  37.  15. 

Phoen.  348.  Trim,  brachycat.  %vytv~\  TO.  iratS  |  o  TTOI  j 
ov  a  \  covai'. 

Phoen.  1771.  Trim,  catal.  \aptv  a  j  x°P~"*  I  ™v  tie  |  0t- 
cGc  |  SiSoO  |  <ra.  Hor.  Od.  2.  18. 

45.  Trochaic  Metre. 

The  species  of  Trochaic  Metre  which  is  most  used  in  the 
Greek  tragedies  is  the  Tetrameter  Catalectic,  the  original 
metre  of  the  dialogue.  It  consists  of  eight  feet  all  but  a 
syllable,  or  may  be  considered  as  made  up  of  two  dimeters, 
of  which  the  second  is  catalectic  to  the  first.  The  trochaic, 
unlike  the  iambic,  admits  equivalent  feet  into  the  even 
places,  whilst  it  reserves  for  itself,  or  its  isochronous  foot, 
the  tribrach,  the  odd.  The  tribrach  is  admitted  into  any 
place;  the  spondee  and  anapaest  into  the  second,  fourth, 
and  sixth,  but  the  dactyl  is  excluded,  except  in  the  case  of 
proper  names,  and  even  then  cannot  enter  the  fourth  or 
seventh  places.  The  csesura  falls  after  the  second  dipodia, 
which  should  terminate  a  word,  and  that  word  should  not 
be  an  article  or  a  preposition  belonging  in  syntax  to  the 
second  dimeter,  as  there  should  be  a  distinct  pause  in  the 
sense.  The  following  is  a  scale  of  this  metre  : 


-V,              -V 

-M 

- 

uy- 

-v/v      —  ww 

Fioper 

N'anip. 

46.  The  dactyl  of  a  proper  name  is  admitted  chiefly 
where  its  two  short  syllables  are  inclosed  between  two  longs 
in  the  same  word  ;  very  rarely  where  the  word  begins  with 


290  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

them ;  under  other  circumstances,  never.  Elmsley  confines 
the  dactyl  to  one  word,  and  corrects  the  only  three  lines 
in  which  it  appears  divided  between  two  words. 

47.  If  a  spondee  or  anapaest  occur  in  the  sixth  place,  it 
should  not  be  followed  by  a  tribrach  in  the  seventh  ;  for  if 
this  were  allowed,  then  a  dactyl  should  be  admissible  into 
the  fifth  place  of  a  senarius  ;  this  will  appear  at  once  by 
removing  a  cretic  from  the  beginning. 

48.  *If  a  cretic,  or  a  first  or  fourth  paeon,  be  taken  away 
from  the  beginning  of  a  trochaic   tetrameter  catalectic, 
there  remains   a    trimeter   iambic   catalectic    (otherwise 
called  a  trochaic  senarian),  which  has  two  peculiarities  : — 
First,  that  an  anapaest  is  inadmissible  even  in  the  first 
foot,  for  were  it  admitted,  a  dactyl  might  be  admitted  into 
the  second  of  a  trochaic  tetrameter  catalectic  ;  and  secondly, 
that  it  has  always  the  penthemimeral  caesura  ;  indeed  the 
break  there  is  as  decisive  as  if  the  verse  were  divided  into 
two  lines.     ^fSo  that  not  only  is  it  inadmissible  for  a  com- 
pound word  to  be  broken,  but  not  even  an  article  or  a  pre- 
position is  suffered  to  terminate  the  fourth  foot.     The  rule 
respecting  the  pause  is  also  scrupulously  observed. 

49.  If  the   first  dipodia  consist  of  an   entire  word  or 
words,  and  so  as  to  be  followed  by  a  slight  break  of  the 
sense,  and  so  that  the  second  foot  is  not  divided  between 
two  words,  the  second  foot  is  generally  a  trochee,  may  be 
a  tribrach,   but  cannot  be   a   spondee   or  anapaest ;  this 
nicety  of  structure  was  first  discovered  by  Person. 

50.  There  is  a  rule  with  regard  to  the  sixth  foot  of  this 

*  A  cretic,  when  the  verse  commences  with  two  trochees,  or  with  a 
trochee  followed  by  a  spondee ;  a  first  paeon,  when  the  first  dipode 
euds  with  a  tribrach  ;  a  fourth  paeon,  when  it  commences  with  one. 

f  This  strictness  is  not  observed  in  the  iambic  senary. 


THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA.  291 

species  of  metre,  similar  to  that  regarding  the  csesural 
pause  in  the  trimeter  iambic.  If  then  a  verse  be  con- 
cluded by  one  word  forming  the  cretic  termination,  or  by 
more  words  than  one  to  that  amount  united  in  meaning, 
so  that  after  the  sixth  foot,  that  portion  of  sense  and  sound 
is  separately  received,  then  the  sixth  cannot  be  a  spondee  or 
anapaest,  but  must  be  either  a  trochee  or  tribrach;  a 
spondee,  however,  is  admissible,  if  its  second  long  syllable 
be  in  the  middle  of  a  word,  or  be  a  monosyllable  more 
connected  with  what  follows  than  with  what  precedes. 
The  varieties  of  this  are  similar  to  those  already  noticed 
on  the  csesural  pause.  The  cases  then  in  which  the  sixth 
foot  may  be  a  spondee,  are — first,  when  both  syllables  are 
contained  in  the  initial  or  medial  syllables  of  the  same 
word ;  if,  however,  the  two  syllables  of  the  sixth  foot  form 
one  word,  it  must  be  a  trochee,  unless  followed  by  a  mono- 
syllable incapable  of  beginning  a  sentence  or  verse ;  like- 
wise if  the  fifth  and  sixth  feet  form  one  word,  or  the  word 
concludes  with  the  sixth  foot,  the  sixth  foot  must  be  a 
trochee,  unless  under  similar  circumstances  of  the  consecu- 
tive syllable.  Secondly,  when  the  spondee  is  divided 
between  two  hypermonosyllabic  words.  Thirdly,  between 
a  monosyllable  and  an  hypermonosyllabic  word.  Fourthly, 
between  a  hypermonosyllabic  word  and  a  monosyllable  ;  of 
this  case  there  are  t\vo  varieties,  viz. — when  the  monosylla- 
ble is  capable  of  beginning  a  verse,  and  when  it  is  not ;  in 
this  latter  variety  the  spondee  is  inadmissible,  unless  that 
monosyllable  be  followed  by  an  enclitic,  or  any  word  in- 
capable of  beginning  a  sentence  or  verse.  Fifthly,  between 
two  monosyllables ;  of  this  also  there  are  two  varieties,  viz. 
— when  the  second  monosyllable  is  capable  of  beginning  a 
verse,  and  when  it  is  incapable :  in  this  latter  case  the 


292  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

spondee  cannot  be  admitted,  unless  that  monosyllable  be 
followed  by  another  incapable  of  beginning  a  sentence  or 
verse.  Though  it  appears  to  be  legitimate  to  have  the  sixth 
foot  a  spondee,  although  one  word,  before  an  enclitic,  or  a 
monosyllable  incapable  of  beginning  a  verse,  yet  there 
seems  to  be  no  instance  in  which  it  is  not  a  trochee. 

51.  It  is  to  this  origin  that  the  law,  concerning  the 
csesural  pause  in  the  iambic  trimeter,  should  be  ascribed. 
For  in  a  trochaic  tetrameter  catalectic,  there  are  three 
natural  divisions  :  — 


Of  these,  the  second  gives  us  the  penthemimeral  caesura  in 
the  iambic,  the  last  the  csesural  pause  ;  and  thus  the  same 
law  which  applies  to  the  catalectic  part  of  the  trochaic 
tetrameter  catalectic,  must  also  apply  to  the  comma  in  the 
iambic,  resulting  from  the  penthemimeral  caesura.  There- 
fore, in  whatever  cases  the  sixth  foot  of  the  trochaic  cannot 
be  a  spondee,  in  the  same  the  fifth  foot  of  the  iambic 
cannot  be  a  spondee.  This  likewise  shows  us  the  reason  of 
Hermann's  observation  regarding  those  lines,  in  which  the 
hepthemimeral  caesura  occurs,  to  which  the  Porsonian 
canon  should  not  be  applied.  Let  us  now  consider  the  first 
division  :  —  Person's  canon,  viz.  that  if  the  first  dipodia 
consist  of  an  entire  word  or  words,  followed  by  a  slight 
break  of  the  sense,  the  second  foot  is  a  trochee,  and  may 
be  a  tribrach,  must  be  confined  to  those  cases  in  which  the 
second  foot  is  not  divided  between  two  words,  viz.  when  it 
is  a  separate  word,  or  perhaps  when  formed  of  the  final 
syllables  of  a  word  ;  otherwise  violations  of  the  canon  may 
be  found.  Now  this  is  but  a  particular  application  of  a 
general  rule,  for  in  no  place  of  a  trochaic  tetrameter  cata- 


THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA.  293 

lectic  but  the  fourth,  can  a  separate  word  form  a  spondee ; 
nor  in  any  other  than  the  second  and  fourth,  can  the 
concluding  syllables  of  a  word  form  a  spondee.  A  spondee, 
therefore,  is  admissible  into  the  sixth  place,  only  when 
divided  between  two  words,  or  formed  of  the  beginning  or 
middle  of  a  word,  and  all  separate  dissyllabic  or  trisyllabic 
words,  unless  in  the  fourth  place,  are  respectively  trochees 
or  tribrachs.  Thus,  if  the  second  or  sixth  foot  be  a 
separate  word,  it  must  be  a  trochee  or  tribrach.  The 
spondee,  therefore,  of  the  second  foot,  appears  to  be  re- 
stricted almost  as  much  as  that  of  the  sixth.  In  the 
fourth  place,  the  spondee  is  unrestricted  ;  the  instances  of 
dissyllabic  words  in  that  place  being  spondees,  are  very 
numerous. 

52.  Resolutions  of  long  syllables  are  more  frequent  in  the 
first  foot  of  each  dipodia,  than  in  the   second,  because 
remission  in  the  force  of  the  rhythm  is  more  agreeable  than 
intension.     The  later  tragedy,  which  took  its  rise  about  the 
89th  Olympiad,  was  not  only  more  negligent  about  rhythm 
in  general,  but  immoderate  also  in  resolutions,  so  that  it 
even  admitted  dissyllabic  words  into  a  tribrach.     The  more 
ancient  did  not  indulge  themselves  in  this,  except  in  pre- 
positions, and  certain  other  words  closely  connected. 

53.  The  comic  tetrameter  trochaic,  like  the  tragic,  may 
be  considered  as  a  common  trimeter  iambic,  with  a  cretic 
or  paeon  prefixed,  but  this  trochaic  senarius  admits,  though 
rarely,  a  dactyl  in  the  fifth  place,  and  a  spondee  in  that 
place  subject  to  no  restrictions  ;  thus  the  comic  tetrameter 
agrees  in  scansion  with  the  tragic,  except  that  the  spondee 
in   the   sixth    sometimes   precedes    the   tribrach    in    the 
seventh,    and  the  rules    regarding  the  caesura  after   the 
second  dipodia,   and  the  divisions  which  sometimes  take 


294  THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

place  after  the  first  dipodia,  or  before  the  final  cretic,  are 
disregarded.  The  comic  agrees  with  the  tragic  in  excluding 
dactyls,  except  in  the  case  of  proper  names.  In  three 
verses,  Aristophanes  has  twice  introduced  a  proper  name 
by  means  of  a  choriambus,  and  once  by  an  ionic  a  minore, 
in  the  place  of  the  regular  trochaic  dipodia.  The  Latins, 
who  term  this  verse  quadratus  and  septenarius,  use  frequent 
resolutions,  and  admit  into  all  places,  except  in  the  last 
dipodia,  a  spondee,  an  anapaest,  and  even  a  dactyl. 

54.  The  trochaic  tetrameter  acatalectic  is  not  used  by 
the  Greek  dramatic  poets  ;  it  is  used  by  the  Latin  dramatic 
writers,  who  call  it  octonarius. 

55.  The  lame  trochaic  tetrameter  catalectic  is  peculiar 
to  Iambic  writers  ;  it  is  so  called,  because  it  ends,  not  in  an 
iambus,  as  the  common  tetrameter  does,  but  in  a  trochee. 

56.  The  trochaic  pentameter  catalectic,  called  v7T£/oju£7-|ooi>, 
because  it  exceeds  thirty  times,  which  metricians  contend 
ought  not  to  be  exceeded,  is  not  used  by  either  the  Greek 
or  Latin  dramatic  poets. 

57.  The  trimeter  hypercatalectic  is  used  in  Greek  tra- 
gedy ;  it  is  also  called  Sapphic ;  f/X0ov  |  stc  So  |  juoue,  ti>'  | 
av0'  £  |  Kaara  |  aoi  \i  |  70;.     Or.  1397. 

58.  The  trimeter  acatalectic.     Bentley  affirms  that  this 
metre  is  unknown  to  tragedy  and  comedy.     Gaisford  ad- 
duces two  instances    (as  he  thinks)  from  Sophocles,  but 
Hermann  says  they  belong  to  epitrites. 

59.  Trimeter  catalectic  (Sotadic)  ;  KarOa  |  vtT,  Ka  |  KO?  a 

a   |    TTOKTEl   |   VEl     7TO   |    (Tig.       Of.  1466. 

60.  Trimeter  brachycatalectic   (Sapphic)  ;    d»  r«=  |  KVOV, 
TE  |  KVOV  TO.  |  Xaivug  |  juarpoe.     Hec.  688. 

61.  Dimeter  hypercatalectic  (Bacchilidean)  ;   ac  E  ' 
o     r5£o     ™?  Ha      ic.     Or.  1408. 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  295 


62.  Dimeter  acatalectic  (Alcmanic)  ;  TTOI  rpa 
Trot  TTO  [  pivdiOi.     Hec.  1082. 

63.  Dimeter  catalectic,  hepthemimer  (Euripidean)  ; 

a  |  iropOrj  \  TUV  TTO  I  Ale-     Hec.   894.     So  in  Horace,  non 
e  |  bur  ne  |  que  aiire  |  urn. 

64.  Dimeter  brachycatalectic   (Ithyphallic  or  Hemiho- 
lius)  ;  ga,crv  |  Xolc  e  |  A7trcr>E  |  .     Or.  1430. 

65.  Monometer   hypercatalectic,    or   peDthemimer  ;    TI 
TTOT'  ay  |  aorc  |  vtte.     Hec.  183. 

66.  Monometer  acatalectic,  or  basis  trochaica  ;  aart  \ 
vaicroc- 

Trochaic  nionometers  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  anapaest.     Dunbar  makes  it 
fall  on  the  first  of  the  trochee,  spondee,  and  dactyl,  and  on 
the  last  of  the  anapaest. 

68.  Anapaestic  Metre. 

Anapaests  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  (e^jSarrjptot 
Traiavce),  the  very  acclamation  in  which  (cAtXsu  IXeXeu), 
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  JEschylus,  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  Trapotfjiia,  a  proverb,  as  that  was  the  metre  in  which 
they  were  sometimes  composed. 

72.  Scale  of  the  Anapaestic  Dimeter  Acatalectic  : 


Scale  of  the  Parcemiac,  or  Dimeter  Catalectic : 


vv/  — 
—  v/vy 

vv- 
-vv/ 

w  — 

Scale  of  the  Anapaestic  Base,  or  Monometer  Acatalectic 


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  paroamiac,  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  anapsest, 
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 
anapsest  (sometimes  after  a  spondee)  overflowing  into  the 


THE  GBECIAN   DRAMA.  299 

second,   with  the  movement  anapaestic   throughout:    as, 
TTTipvyuv  ipfTfjiotatv  fpiaaofjiwoi.  Agam.  52. 

76.  The  Synapheia  (owa^fta),  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,   woOtovaai  iSftv  aprt^vylav. 
Pers.  548. 

78.  When  the  monometer  or  anapaestic  base  occurs,  it 
generally  precedes  the  paroemiac  ;  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  dactylic 
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  anapaest,  are  divided  between 
a   dactyl  and  the  following  foot,    since  it  thus  becomes 
rather  dactylic  than  anapaestic. 


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 

.     1+     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 
cwsura,  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 
parcemiac,  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  Aristopkanean  proceleusmatic  tetrameter ; 
but  by  the  better  skilled,  anapaestic ;  as,  riq  opea  /3a0vico/ua 

/3porwv. 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  301 

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  anapsestics  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,  (anapsesticua 
Aristophanieus,)  peculiar  to  comedy,  was  used   by  both 
Greeks  and  Romans.     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  niinore  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. 
Dactyls  are  admitted  much  more  sparingly  into  the  second 
than  into  the  first  place  of  the  dipodia.  In  the  twelve  hun- 
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,  paroemiac,  and  base, 
the  following  varieties  are  used  in  Greek  tragedy  : 

Monometer  hypercatalectic  or  penthemimer :  $opi  Sfj  | 
SopT  7T£/>  |  aav.  Hec.  897. 

Dimeter  brachycatalectic :  Kplvu  \  rpiaaaq  \\  juaica/owi>. 
Hec.  641. 

Dimeter  hypercatalectic  :  ou0'  o  ira  \  pa  TOV  AX«  ||  povra 
0e  |  oc  avaff  ||  <rwv.  Soph.  El.  184. 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  S03 

89.  The  following  may  serve  as  a  short  specimen  of  an 
anapaestic  system  with  all  its  usual  parts  : 

*AXXa  <r'  6  Maiaf 


as 

Arytu,  7ra/o'  ijuol  StSoKn^at.   Med.  757. 

90.  The  *ictus  metricus,  according  to  Dawes,   falls  on 
the  last  syllable  of  the  anapaest  and  spondee,  and  on  the  ' 
middle  syllable  of  the  dactyl  ;  according  to  Tate,  on  the 
last  syllable  of  the  anapaest  and  its  companion  spondee, 
and  on  the  first  syllable  of  the  dactyl  and  its  accompanying 
spondee.     Tate's  opinion  is  to  be  preferred. 
91.  Dactylic  Metre. 

The  ancient  writers  on  rhythm  call  trochaic  rhythm 
&7rAac7toi;,  dactylic,  urov,  because  in  the  former  a  double 
time  is  set  together  or  compared  with  a  single  one,  in  the 
latter  a  double  with  a  double,  that  is  an  equal  with  an 
equal.  But  not  all  dactylic  numbers  have  this  comparison  ; 
for  in  some,  as  in  the  heroic  verse,  and  cyclian  anapaests, 
(Hermann  classes  anapaestic  among  dactylic,  and  iambic 
among  trochaic  numbers,)  the  long  syllable  which  is  in 
arsis,  is  accounted  aXoyoe,  i.  e.  irrationalis,  (dispropor- 
tionate,) as  being  somewhat  shorter  than  a  double  time  ; 
and  on  this  account  the  arsis  in  these  kinds  is  not  resolved 
into  two  syllables,  whereas  in  the  other  kinds  it  is  often  so 
resolved.  In  most  dactylic  verses  a  dactyl  and  spondee 

*  Dunbar  makes  the  ictus  fall  on  the  last  of  the  anapaest,  and  on  the 
first  of  the  spondee  and  dactyl.  He  thinks  this  verse  so  similar  to 
hexameter,  that,  with  the  exception  of  the  anapaest  itself,  it  has  the  ictus 
similarly  placed. 


304  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA, 

alone  are  used  ;  in  a  few  and  seldom,  a  *proceleusmatic  or 
anapaest,  which  feet  seem  to  be  admissible  in  those  dactylics 
only,  whose  arsis  has  not  the  irrational  measure.  Where- 
fore, the  resolution  of  the  arsis  is  excluded  from  the  heroic 
verse,  and  elegiac  pentameter,  and  from  other  kinds, 
chiefly  the  logacedic.  And  on  the  whole,  this  resolution,  if 
any  where  found,  is  mostly  of  a  doubtful  nature,  except  in  a 
proper  name. 

92.  In  dactylic  metre  one  foot  constitutes  a  metre ;  the 
catalexis  of  dactylics  is  two-fold ,-  on  one  syllable,  and  on 
two  syllables ;  as, 

—  w  —  vv/  —  5    -v\/  —  w  —v  • 

Acatalectic  verses,  except  in  systems,  in  which  the  numbers 
are  continued,  are  ended  with  a  dactyl,  not  a  spondee,  lest 
they  should  appear  to  be  catalectic  on  two  syllables.  Those 
lines  which  terminate  with  a  spondee  (or  a  trochee,  which 
amounts  to  the  same  thing,  on  account  of  the  aSta^o/ofa,  or 
the  capability  of  considering  the  last  syllable  common)  are 
generally  called  catalectic  on  a  dissyllable.  Hermann  speak- 
ing of  the  hexameter  ef  the  tragedians,  says,  "  Nam  nee 
trochaeo  finitur,  sed  dactylo  vel  spondeo :"  but  Maltby  re- 
marks, that  Hermann  is  mistaken  in  this.  Vid.  .ZEsch. 
supp.  73.  Agam.  134,  147,  150,  151. 

93.  The  following  species  of  dactylic  metre  are  in  use. 
Monom.  hypercat.  OTSnro  |  So. 

94.  Dim.    cat.  on  two  syllables,  called  Adonic,  To7«rS' 
o/io  |  <}>u)vov.  Ag.  166.  in  this  verse  a  dactyl  is  not  changed 
into  a  spondee ;  it  is  used  in  concluding  the  sapphic  stanza 
in  Horace.     Sappho  wrote  whole  poems  in  Adonics. 

•  It  would  seem  that  the  anapaest  and  proceleusmatic  should  be 
contracted  into  a  spondee  and  dactyl. 


THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA.  305 


95.  Dim.  acat.  r7c  S'  t/rT  |  rw/z/3ioe:   ov  Sftcr  |  iivvpa  :  it 
is  found  for  the  most  part  in  systems  combined  with  tetra- 
meters. 

96.  Trim.  cat.  on  one  syllable  ;  'A/orj^u  |  Soc  rt  9i  \  a$. 
Hec.  462.  ;   the  spondee  is  admissible  into  the  first  place. 
It  is  used  by  Horace,  "  arboribusque  eonise  ;"'  Od.  4.  7. 

97.  Trim.  cat.  on  two  syllables  ;   ;roXXa  yap  \  a»(rr'  UKO.  \ 
fiavrog  ;  when  this  verse  has  a  spondee  in  the  first  foot,  care 
must  be  taken  not  to  confound  it  with  the  Pherecratean 
verse,  as  in  JEsch.  Ag.  108.  aXco  <TU/LI^UTOC  cuwv.  A  spondee 
will  scarcely  be  found  in  the  second  foot. 

98.  Trimeter    acat.    Zfv^opai  \  apjuari  |  TrwXowc  ;     Hec. 
467.     The  spondee  is  admissible  into  the  first  and  third 
places.  Hermann  says,  he  does  not  remember  to  have  found 
a  trimeter  and  pentameter,  which  end  in  a  dactyl,  and  are 
therefore  to  be  accounted  openly  acatalectic.     If  trimeters 
are  found  in  systems,  it  is  attributable  to  a  faulty  distribu- 
tion of  the  verses  :  two  verses  of  this  kind  should  be  con- 
joined into  one  hexameter. 

99.  Tetrameter  cat.   on  one  syllable  ;    o>  rroXu  |  »cAaur£ 
^i  |  Xolffi    0a  |  VMV  ;    Pers.    680.      Dunbar    excludes   the 
spondee  from  the  third  place  ;   Heath  admits  it. 

100.  Tetram.   cat.  on  two  syllables  ;    ^at^o/ia  J  vov  KO.- 
KOV  |  olk-a^'  a  j  yea-flat.    Archilochus  wrote  epodes,  and  Ana- 
creon  whole  poems  in  this  verse. 

101.  Tetram.    acat.    Sf^Ta  |  /j£i»,     k-ara  j  yuojit^a    St  |  Qay- 
/IOTO;  Ag.  143.     Dunbar  excludes  the  spondee   from  the 
fourth  place,  but  Hermann  admits  it  into  every  place.    The 
dramatic  poets  use  the  tetram.  acat.  both  separately,  so 
that,  on  account  of  the  doubtful  last  syllable,  a   cretic  also 
might  be  put  in  the  end,  and  in  systems,  in  which  the  final 
syllable  not  being  common,  the  last  foot  must  be  a   dactyl 


306  THE  GKECIAN  DRAMA. 

or  a  spondee.  The  lyric  poets,  as  Alcman,  composed  whole 
strophes  in  this  metre.  The  dramatists  in  their  antistro- 
phics  carefully  assimilate  all  the  feet,  so  that  a  dactyl  may 
answer  to  a  dactyl,  and  a  spondee  to  a  spondee.  The  cata- 
lexis  of  the  systems  is  sometimes  dactylic  on  two  syllables ; 
at  other  times  they  subjoin  a  verse  of  another  kind  to  dac- 
tylic numbers  ;  they  admit  acatalectic  dimeters  and  hexame- 
ters into  systems  of  tetrameters.  The  following  are  in- 
stances of  the  dactylic  tetrameter  in  Horace :  "  Certus 
enim  promisit  Apollo  ;"  "  Mensorem  cohibent  Archyta." 

102.  Pentameter  cat.  on  one  syllable ;  TWV  jueya  |  \wv 
Aava  |  MV  VTTO  \  K\rjZo/.i£  \  vav.      Aj.  224. 

103.  Pent.  cat.  on  two  syllables :  xa~lP*  "  I  v"&  *T"  1  P* 
%a&t  |  aq  fjiaicap  |  TJjSae ;  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,  Ovpov  a  \  iroirvii  \  ovr' 
j  a\Ki/uiov  |  lv  KOI/I  j  rj.    Some  have  thought  that  the  elegiac 
pentameter  is  composed  of  two  dactyls,  a  spondee,  and  two 
anapaests.    The  caesura,  which  must  be  inviolably  in  the  third 
arsis,  removes  all  doubt  that  it  is  composed  of  two  dactylic 
irtvOrifjufjifpii ;  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  caesura  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  caesura. 
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 


TITE  GRECIAN  DRAMA.  S07 

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  the  name  of  eleyies.  It  has  been  once 
used  in  tragedy  ;  Eurip.  Androm.  1 03.  sqq.  On  account  of 
the  equality  of  its  numbers  the  elegiac  pentameter  cannot 
well  be  often  repeated  alone  ;  it  is  thus  repeated  by  Virgil 
in  that  sportive  effusion,  "  sic  vos  non  robis?  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  csesura  generally  takes  place 
at  the  penthemimeris,  and  a  trochaic  in  the  foot  preceding 
the  final  syllable  in  the  second  hemistich.  There  is  some- 
times a  monosyllabic  csesura  at  the  penthemimeris,  when  the 
preceding  word  is  a  monosyllable.  The  trochaic  ccesura  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  hexameter,  unless  it  is  elided  or  preceded  by  another 
monosyllable. 

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 
dipodiae  ;  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, 
rJc,  Kara  rpiTOv  rpo^aiov^  i(j)Bi]fJiifjifprj(;,  rcr/oaTroSia 
viz. — 

1st         — y%M«VV/— Jw — w-vv.'-w 

2nd      —w«w«»\/J%/— w»wv»w 

3rd        — ww- w  — vw-|wvy— v-'w-v/ 
4th       — W".w««w— \xv| — vw— v 

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  caesuras  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  interca  domus  omnipotentis 
Olympi,"  becomes  anapaestic  trimeter  catalectic,  by  taking  away  one 
[syllable  :  "  Patet  interea  domus  omnipotentis  Olympi." 


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.  /3.  731,  o.  554 :  Od.  K.  493,  /u.  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  tlvai,  altl,  in  the  end  of  a  verse,  rather 
than  Iju/uev,  aliv.     The  Greeks  always  end  a  heroic  verse 
with  a  whole  word ;  whence  many  words  are  curtailed  in 
ancient  poetry,  as,  Sw,  KpT.     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  jua'ou/ooc, 
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  ^fcot,  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  a*  it  is  in  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  coesura  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  caesura  ;  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  heptaineters  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  Logacedics  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  ^Eoliqs. 

109.  C/tor iambic  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,  irtypiKa 
rav  ||  wXccrioI — KOV.  S.  c.  Th.  717,  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 
gecunda  sede  sit  choriambus,  si  ultra  dimetrum  excrescit ;  in 
alterutra  vero,  si  sit  dimeter."  The  catalexis  of  choriambic 
verse  is  various  ;  the  close  is  made  very7  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, 
o»  fiat  t-yoj.   Hec.  1039. 

111.  Monorn.  hypercat.  or  pentheni.     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,  ravSs  yvval  \  KO>V.  Hec.  10-53. 

112.  Dim.  brachycat.  consists  of  a  choriambus,  and  an 
iambus  or  spondee,  as,  d/\toc  au  |  ya&I,  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.  hypereat. 

113.  Dimeter   cat.  or  hephthem.     This  is  formed  of  a 
choriambus  and  a  catalectic  trochaic  or  iambic  syzygy  ;   it 
may  also  be  considered  a  logacedie,  composed  of  a  dactylic 


312  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

raonometer  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  : — iropO/jiov 
01%  |  to  raXae,  Hec.  1088.  ^fljuaroc  aX  |  Xo  jufj^a/),  Ag.  192. 
So  in  Horace,  "  Lydia,  die  per  omnes." 

114.  Dim.  acat.     This,  when  pure,  is  formed  of  two  cho- 
riambi ;   as,   afjufi   K-XaSotc  j  s£o/>ieva  }  ,    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  firpt  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  Glyconlc  Polyscliematistic  ;  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  Prosodiac. 

115.  Dim.  hypercat.   as,  rav  o  fuyag  \  fivOog   ae£  |  el: 
Soph.  Aj.  226. 

116.  Trim,  brachycat.  as,  TroXtov  a^ai/tc  |  atOt/ioc  t<S  j 
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.  313 

catalectic  iambic  dipodia  ;  of  course  the  iambic  dipodia  may 
be  substituted  for  the  first  choriambus,  as,  av  &  IK  fttv  oil  \ 
Ku>v  7raV/oian'  |  fTrAjimac  |  •  Med.  431. 

118.  Trim.  acat.  When  pure,  this  contains  three  chori- 
ambi,  but  the  iambic  dipodia  is  admissible ;  as,  vvv  TtXtaai 

I       —          w   w/l—    I          —          w    w     —       i          rj  rpr.      ^sti 

j  rag  irtpivv  \  JJLOVG  Karapag  |  .    b.  c.  In.  |Z1. 

11.9.  Tetram.  cat.  as,  a  vtorac  |  fioi  <fi\ov  a%  \  Oog  TO  Se 
yri  |  pa?  am  j  ,  Here.  F.  639.  In  this  species,  Anacreon 
has  put  a  diiambus  in  the  second  place  ;  and  if  that  were 
kept  constantly  pure,  this  verse  might  seem  to  be  con- 
structed of  two  logacedics. 

120.  Tetram.  acat.  is  used  by  Anacreon,  a  choriambus 
and  diiambus   being  put  promiscuously,  except  that  in  the 
end  there  is  always  a  diiambus. 

121.  The  later  form  only  of  tragedy  appears  to  have 
used  resolutions,  as,  TIC  a/o'  v^tvai  \  6e  Sea  Xa>  |  TOV  AT|3uoc> 
Eur.  Iph.  A.  1036. 

122.  Choriambic  verses  are  met  with  beginning  with  an 
anacrusis,  i.  e.  a  time  or  times  forming  a  kind  of  introduc- 
tion or  prelude  to  the  numbers,   which  the  ictus  afterwards 
begins,  as,  WTT'  |  avtpoQ  A\ai  \  ov  &iu6iv  j  :  S.  c.  Th.  313. 

123.  A  verse  composed  of  an  amphibrachys  (or  palim- 
bacchius),  and  choriambus  is  common,  as,  irdfjiira  Ai  |  oc 
£iviov  :  Ag.  72-5. 

]  24.  Horace  has  put  a  trochaic  dipodia  before  choriambi, 
and  has  chcsen  to  make  the  last  syllable  of  it  always  long, 
whereas  it  is  probable,  that  among  the  Greeks  it  was 
doubtful.  Od.  i.  8. 

Te  deos  6  |  ro,  Sybarin  |  cur  properas  j  amando  |  . 

The  use  of  the  choriambic  metre  is  unfrequent  among 
the  Roman  comedians ;  some  choriambic  verses,  however, 
are  found  in  Plautus,  and  even  in  Terence. 


314)  THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

125.  The  most  in  use  are  choriambics  with  a  base,  which  the 
ignorance  of  ancient  metricians  ranked  amongst  antispastic 
verses ;  but  if  they  were  antispastic,  they  could  never  begin 
with  a  trochee  or  pyrrhic,  and  they,  would  have  the  last 
syllable  of  each  antispast  doubtful.     The  Latin  gramma- 
rians  perceived  the   error.     The  JEoliG  lyrics  alone    ad- 
mitted even  a  pyrrhic  in  the  base  ;  the  comedians  and  the 
later  tragedians  ventured  to  put  in  the  base  even  trisyllabic 
feet,  the  tribrach,  anapaest,  dactyl. 

126.  The  shortest  of  these  verses  has  one  choriambus ; 
vvv  Iv  |  Trotovo/uote.  Suppl.  42. 

127.  Next  to  that  is  the  hypercatalectic,  which  is  called 
Pherecratean ;  as,  S.  c.  Th.  282.  TOI  juli/  \  yap  TTOTI  irvp  \ 
7owc  ;  grato  Pyrrha  sub  antro.  Hor. 

128.  Then  the  Gly conic,  which  has  a  logaoadic  order ;  as, 
"  cui  flavam  religas  comam."     The  latter  tragedy  admits  a 
spondee  in  the  end  instead  of  an  iambus,  so  that  in  antis- 
trophics  a  spondee  may  answer  to  an  iambus ;  generally, 
however,  an  iambus  answers  to  an  iambus,  and  a  spondee 
to  a  spondee  ;  it  also  admits  resolutions  of  either  the  first 
or  last,  or  both  first  and  last  syllables  of  the  choriambus, 
in  both  Glyconic  and  Pherecratean  verse ;  a  trochee  also  is 
sometimes  admitted  at  the  end. 

129.  The  most   in  use   is   the  hypercatalectic  dimeter; 
owS'  otic  |  rpag  yoov  op  j  viOog  ar\  \  Sovg.  Aj.  628.  Sophocles 
has  used  the   brachi/catalectic  trimeter;   ccXX'  a  |  juoiptSta  | 
TIC  Svvacttg  J  2>£n>a.  Antig.  951.     Also  the  trimeter  hyperca- 
talectic ;  aXXov  \  S1  oimi/  t'ywy'  j  oTSa  K\V(H)V  \  ouS1   t'tft^ov 
|  fjioipa.  Phil.  681. 

130.  Choriambic  systems  also'are  found  beginning  with  a 
base,  in  which  Molossi  are  admitted,  to  which  in  the  antis- 
trophe  Molossi  and  sometimes  choriamb!  correspond. 


THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA.  SI 5 

131.  Horace  has  used  many  ehoriambies  with  a  base, 
always  putting  a  spondee  ill  the  base,  except  I.  15,  24,  36. 

Teucer  |  et  Sthenelus  |  potens 
Ignis  j  Iliacas  j  domos. 

In  the  first  of  these  examples,  however,  the  best  editions 
read  Teucer  fr,  &:c. ;  and  Bentley,  Teucerque  et ;  in  the 
second,  Pergameas  has  been  substituted  for  Iliacas  on  the 
authority  of  Mss. 

He  also  makes  a  csesura  at  the  end  of  each  choriambus, 
except  the  last ;  as, 

Msece  |  nas  atavis  j  edite  re  j  gibu>. 
Nullam,  |  Vare,  sacra  j  \ite  prius  |  sevens  ar  j  borem. 
Once  only,  and  that  in  a  compound  word,  he  has  neglected 
the  caesura,  viz.  I.  18,  16 : 

Arcanique  fides  prodiga  peiiucidior  vitro  : 
Alcseus  and  Theocritus  were  careless  of  such  matters ;  as, 

junSfv   aXXo   tyvrtvays  Trportpov   StvS/oeov   ajUTrAw  ; 
In  this  they  have  been  followed  by  Catullus. 

132.  The    choriambic  •  metre,  "called  polyschematist,    or 
anomalous,  seems  not  to  be  such  in  reality ;  it  consists  of 
a  choriambus,  an  iambic  dipodia,   a  choriainbus,  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, 

'S.ifjLaXov  tl^ov  lv  x°PV*  TrijKTt^1  txovJ"a  KO\I'IV.  Anacreon. 

133.  When  any  foot  of  four  syllables,  except  the  ionics 
and  pseons,  is  united  with  a  choriambus,  the  verse  is  called 
Epichoriambic ;  as, 

JUjTlW    &    S£<T   |   TTOtv'    £71"'    fJUOt   |    .    Med.  632. 

KalBewvTrai  J  Sec/uaicapwv  |  .   Med.  821. 
Crawford  refers  these  to  the  Glyconic  polyschematistic,  The 


316 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 


sappliic  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  acy  rubente 
Dexter^  sa/jras  jacula/tus  arces 
Terruit  urjbem. 

Antispastic  Metre. 

134.  An  antispast  consists  of  an  iambus  and  a  trochee, 
(v/-|-w).  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 : 


v/- 
WV/ 


-v/ 
v/w 


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 


And  the  ditrochee  by  those  of 


VV-        VV- 


THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 


117 


The  following   scale   then  represents  the  varieties  of  the 
pure  antispastic  nion  meter  acatalectic. 

9.     —  |  -v 
-'       10. 
11. 
12. 


1 

-  w         5. 

^ww 

2.      v- 

ww       6. 

vww 

3.     v- 

7. 

vww 

4.      v- 

v/v—       8. 

v^w 

—  —         V\/- 


13.     wv- 

-v       17. 

-wv, 

vyww        18. 

-ww 

15.      w- 

19. 

-v/v 

36.     w- 

wv-        20. 

-WO 

135.  Burney  calls  those  lines  which  contain  iambic,  or 
trochaic  dipoclise,  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  phakecean,  &c.  &c.     He  excludes  the 
iambic  and  trochaic  syzygy,  also  the  anapaest  from  the  first 
part,  as  well  as  the  dactyl  from  the  second  pail  of  the  au- 
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.  t5  TTOTVI  "Hpa" :   w  0i'A"  "A7roXAoi» : 
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.   tjuot    \piiv   £v/u  j  Qopav  : 
Hec.  627. 

138.  Antisp.  dim.  cat.     This  consists  of  two  metres,  the 
first  acatalectic,  the  latter  catalectic.     It  is  likewise  called 


S18 


THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA, 


pherecratean,  but  then  there  are  restrictions  of  the  varieties 
of  the  antispast ;  its  second  foot  is  a  bacchius. 
Scale  of  Pherecratean. 


Dim.  cat.  alwva  0/Xo>e  |  trtjua  '•  Agam.  238.  Pherecratean. 
avpa  TTOVTI  |  a?  avpa :  Hec.  444.  Hermann  refers  this 
verse  to  the  choriambic  metre,  with  a  base  ;  he  scans 
the  above  line  thus,  avpa  \  irovnag  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. 


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 — 


Dim.  acat.  vofiov  avojuov,  ol  [  a  rig   %ovOa:  Agam.  1111. 
Glyconic.  ImrtucravTog,  j  ci>  ovpavtjj  :     Phoen.  219. 

140.  Dim.   hyper.    (Hipponactean.)     This  differs   from 
the  preceding  only  in  having  an  additional  final  syllable, 
tjuol  xP*iv  "K*!  I  /*OWM*  ytvtG  |  Oal.  Hec.  628. 

141.  Trim,  brachycat.     This  is  formed  of  two  antispasts, 
admitting  all  the  varieties,  and  a  half  antispast ;  raXa'ival 
TO.  |  Aati>cuaKo/ocu  1  typvyiov  :  Hec.  1046.  It  is  called  Praxil- 
lean. 


THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA.  319 

142.  Trim.  cat.  (Phakecian,  or  hendecasyllable.)  This 
differs  from  the  preceding  only  in  having  an  additional  final 
syllable.  Hermann  considers  it  as  a  choriambic  hendeca- 
syllabic  :  (JHHTIV  ''Airi  \  Savbv  yvaq  \  \nraivtiv :  Hec.  453, 
according  to  Hermann.  0acrtv  |  'ATriSavtiv  \  yvag\nral  \  vetv. 

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.  T/C  ot&v ; 
TJ  j  TOI  Otlov  l<r  |  rt  fiii  -^vOog:  Ag.  462.     Euripides  appears 
to  have  used  a  trimeter  in  the  Here.  Fur.  919,  followed  by 
a  verse  composed  of  two  dochmii : 

X'w'       w  W       W  w         w  (WWW      /l^w/l^  I      W       W          W\    W/l        W  W 

IJt,    TLl'U  TpOTTOV   j    t(TVTO    t7£of7£V    |    £7Tt  /Lt£Aa(7/OO  Ktt- 

-KO.  raSjf.  rXTJ/xovac  |  Tt  TralSwy  rv\aq  \  . 

144.  In  addition  to  these  forms,  Burney  mentions  the 
trim,  hyper,  tetram  cat.  and  tetram.  acat.  which  admit  all  the 
varieties  ;  but,  as  they  very  seldom  occur,  and  scarcely  ever 
where  it  is  not  betterto  alter  them,  we  may  safely  neglect  them. 

145.  Among   the   tragedians  chiefly,  the  antispastic  is 
often  associated  with  other  numbers,  mostly  iambic  and 
trochaic.     Of  these,  the  iambic  are  not  such  as  proceed  by 
dipodiae,  but  of  another  kind,  allied  to  antispastics  :   thi« 
kind,  because  it  consists  of  shorter  orders,  and  therefore 
admits  a  doubtful  syllable  even  into  those  places  from  which 
it  is  excluded  in  dipodize,  whence  arises  a  broken  and  feeble 
movement,  may  be  called  ischiorrhoaic  iambics,  (from  to-^e 
and  (OTryvu/it),  a  term  transferred  to  these  from  the  Hippo- 
nactean  trimeter,  to  which  it  was  applied  by  grammarians. 

146.  Dochmiacs  are  the  kind  of  antispastics  most  in  use  ; 
a  dochmiv.s  consists  of  an  antispast  and   a  long  syllable 
(v--v-)  ;  therefore  a  simple  dochmiac  is  the  same  as  an 


320  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

antispastic  monom.  hypercat.  0e<oi>  ?j  &tav.  The  scholiast 
of  jEschylus  calls  these  numbers  pvO/nov  oKrafrrjjuov,  Jbecause 
they  have  eight  times.  The  antispast  admits  all  the  va- 
rieties above  mentioned,  and  the  syllable  is  capable  of 
resolution,  except  at  the  end  of  a  system  of  dochmiacs. 

147.  Dochmiac  hypercat.      This  contains  one  syllable 
more  than  the  preceding  species,    it   is  otherwise  called 
antispastic  dim.  cat.     It  is  usually  heptasyllabic,  particu- 
larly at  the  end  of  strophes,  and  the  ante-penultimate  is 
always  short,  tv  TrpairiSwv  Xa  |  %ov  \  ra.  Ag.  371. 

148.  Dochmiac   dim.       This   is   formed  of    two   single 
dochmiacs  united  ;  a  pure  dochmiac  dim.  is  not  of  frequent 
occurrence  ;  the  following  are  examples : — aKovel^  /3ovXav  | 
aicoDele  Tfjcvwv  \  :    Med.  1270  :    Suca  »cai   0to7  |  aiv  ov  £WJM- 
inTvtl.  |  :    Hec.    1013.       Other   varieties   of    the   dimeter 
dochmiac  may  be  found  in  the  chorus  in  ^Esch.  S.  c.  Th. 
79,  ed.  Blomf.  also  in  Hec.  681,  684,  688,  689,  690,  693, 
702,  703,   707,  708,   709.      The  dimeters  do  not  always 
consist  of  separate  dochmii,  as  appears  from  one  of  the 
examples  given  above. 

149.  Dochmiac  dim.  hyper.     This  sometimes  has  only 
the  former  dochmiac  hypercatalectic,  sometimes  only  the 
latter,  sometimes  both  ;  as, 

a^iffjTov  0/Aot  |  mv  \  SVOIUTOV  ;  a\  \  icoS1  |    :  Again.  1027. 

150.  Dochmiacs  are  usually  joined  in  systems  running 
out   in  uninterrupted   numbers,    and   generally    with    two 
dochmii  comprehended  in  one  verse  ;  hence,  both  a  doubt- 
ful syllable  and  hiatus  are  excluded  from  the  end  of  every 
dochmius,  in  the  middle  of  the  system,  (except  on  certain 
conditions,  which  shall  be  mentioned)  ;  but  a  resolution  of 
the  last  syllable  is  legitimate.  There  are  thirty-two  varia- 
tions of  the  dochmius.     The  conditions  on  which  an  hiatus 


THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA,  321 

and  a  short  syllable  for  a  long,  are  admitted  at  the  end  of 
a  dochraius  in  the  middle  of  a  system,  are,  firstly,  in  inter- 
jections ;  secondly,  in  vocative  cases;  thirdly,  in  repetitions  of 
the  same  word,  either  before  or  after  the  repetition  ;  fourthly, 
when  the  person  is  changed  ;  fifthly,  on  account  of  a  proper 
name  following ;  and  in  all  these  cases  by  reason  of  the 
pause  that  is  made  in  the  recitation.  But  when  a  doubtful 
syllable  or  hiatus  occurs  in  the  end,  we  must  often  beware 
of  believing  several  systems  to  be  only  one  ;  for  since  they 
do  not  use  to  have  a  catalexis,  the  end  of  a  system  can  fre- 
quently be  ascertained  by  nothing  but  the  sense  and  punc- 
tuation. 

151.  The  final  long   syllable   of  the  dochmius  is  often 
resolved  into  two  short ;  as,  Kartryt,  icarayt,  7rpoat(T,  \  arpl- 
^uac,  arot/iac  T0T  :   Eur.  Or.  149. 

152.  When  in  the  dochmiac  dim.  the  dochmius  does  not 
finish  with  a  whole  word,  the  word  is  so  divided,  that  it 
may  terminate  either  in  the  first  syllable  of  the  second 
dochmius,  or  the  penultimate  of  the  first ;  and  in  the  antis- 
trophic  verses  the  same  division  as  that  in  the  strophic  is 
for  the  most  part  observed ;  even  when  long  syllables  are 
resolved,  the  first  dochmius  often  ends  in  the  first  syllable 
of  a  word. 

153.  Dochmiacs  are  found  having  a  disyllabic  anacrusis 
in  the  first  foot,  also,  others  having  one  in  the  last,  to  both 
of  which  species  the  antistrophic  verses  correspond. 

154.  Dochmiacs  are  often  augmented  at  the  beginning, 
sometimes  by  merely  one  arsis,  sometimes  by  one  iambus, 
sometimes  by  two  iambi,  sometimes  by  am  amphibrachys, 
sometimes  by  a  ditrochee,  which  generally  ends  in  a  long 
syllable ;  sometimes  a  ditrochee  follows  a  dochmius  ;   some- 
times dochmiac  and  antispastic  metres  are  united  in  one 

Y 


322  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

verse  ;  often  an  iambic  dimeter,  or  trimeter,  is  coupled  with 
dochmii,  sometimes  so  as  to  cohere  with  them  in  the  same 
numbers,  at  other  times  so  as  not  to  cohere  ;  sometimes  a 
bacchee  is  added  at  the  end  to  either  hypercatalectic,  or 
common  dochmii,  the  bacchee  being,  in  fact,  part  of  a 
dochmius.  The  cretic,  either  pure  or  resolved,  and  the  first 
or  fourth  pseon,  which  is  a  resolution  of  the  cretic,  some- 
times precede,  and  sometimes  follow,  dochmii ;  a  transition 
is  often  made  from  dactylic  numbers  to  dochmiac,  and 
usually  in  such  a  manner,  that  the  dochmiac  begin  with  a 
dactyl ;  dactyls  ending  in  an  arsis  often  precede  dochmiacs  ; 
a  spondee  sometimes  precedes  a  dochmiac,  sometimes  is 
inserted  among  dochmii.  Two,  three,  four,  or  five  short 
syllables  sometimes  precede  a  dochmiac,  and  sometimes 
are  placed  in  the  midst  of  dochmiacs:  two  short  sylla- 
bles seem  to  be  a  resolution  of  a  mere  arsis,  three  of 
an  iambus  or  trochee,  four  of  a  dactyl  or  amphibrachys, 
five  of  a  cretic.  To  account  for  these  short  syllables,  also 
for  the  consociation  of  the  spondee,  dactyl,  &c.  &c.,  with 
dochmiacs,  recourse  must  be  had  to  what  musicians  term 
paracataloge  ;  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  majore  (--^). 

An  ionic  verse  a  majore  admits  a  trochaic  syzygy  promis- 
cuously with  its  proper  foot,  the  second  pseon  into  the  first 


THE    GRECIAN*    DRAMA.  323 

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<ri£  is  said  to  take  place,  and 
the  verse  is  called  avak-Xw/uvoc.  Thus,  when  the  second 
pseon  is  joined  to  the  second  or  third  epitrite,  there  is  an 
avaicXafftc,  for  they  taken  together  are  equal  in  time  to  two 
ionics  a  majore. 


If  the  three  remaining  paeons,  or  the  second  pseon,  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  -  \  -.w  ;  he  admits  two  trochees 
not  cohering  in  one  periodic  order,  -v  \  -v,  but  excludes 
the  second  pseon  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, 
—  \  — vv/  \  —  \  — wv  \  —  \  —  w  would  become  -  \  —  w-  \  — w-  \ 
-v^v  ;  from  this  it  came  to  pass,  that  in  each  ionic  the  last 
syllable  was  doubtful,  which  in  choriainbics  ought  to  have  a 
fixed  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 
preyents  the  concurrence  of  too  many  long  syllables. 


324  THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA, 

158.  Monom.  hypercat.  or  penthem.  7TT(o«rerov<n  ftv 

Hec.  1048.  This  might  be  scanned  as  an  anapaestic  mono- 
meter. 

159.  Dim.  brachycat.  (Hipponactean).  Kail  <ra><j>pova  \  TTO;- 
XoTe;   Phoen  182. 

160.  Dim.  cat.  ij  HaXXa^og  \  Iv  TroXeT.   Hec.  465.     This 
is  called  Cleomachean. 

161.  Dim.  acat.  rto  SoiJXoau  |  voc  7iy>oc  O'IKOV  \  :  Hec.  448. 

162.  Dim.  hypercat.  vvv  8'  ovrog  a  \  vctrat  oruye  |  pfj»: 
Ajax.  1232. 

163.  Trim,  brachycat.    (Praxillean).    oinrpav   /3to  |  TUV 
^Xovaav  |  olicolc :    Hec.  456. 

164.  Trim.  acat.  rav  ovB*  vrrvot;  \  cupel  troO'  o  \  Travro-yi}- 
|oa*c :   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 
"Xpvaofyopijq  TOVTO  rv^rjc  torTv  ^irap/na. 

1 66.  Among  the  Latins,  Terentianus  Maiirus  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  minore  (^^--). 

An  ionic  verse  a  minore  admits  an  iambic  syzygy  promis- 
cuously ;  and  begins  sometimes  with  the  third  pseon,  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   ORtXiAX    UBAMA. 

Resolutions  of  the  long  syllable  are  allowed.  When  the 
second  or  third  pseon  is  followed  by  the  second  epitrite, 
there  is  of  course  an  avanXaaig.  The  choruses  in  Euri- 
pides's  Bacchae  are  principally  in  this  metre.  It  is  once 
used  by  Horace  in  Od.  iii.  12,  "  31  ise rat-urn  est"  &c.  An 
epionic  verse  a  minore  is  constituted  by  intermixing  with 
the  ionic  foot,  a  trochaic  syzygy,  an  epitrite,  the  second  or 
fourth  pseon,  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/v—  \  — ;  each  foot  has  its  own 
separate  numbers,  and  is  not  connected  continuously  with 
other  feet,  because  they  would  otherwise  run  into  choriambi ; 
thus  wv-L  |  —  |  v/^_  |  _  would  become  vv/-l  |  -v/w—  |  - ;  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  avaitXams,  and  the  verses  themselves 
avan\wiJitvoi,  because  the  change  in  the  numbers  is  not 
made  in  one  ionic  foot,  but  in  two,  the  end  of  the  one  and 
the  beginning  of  the  other  being  changed. 

169.  The  ^Eolic  lyrics  appear  to  have  made  these  verses 
chiefly  of  pure  ionic  feet ;  but  the  Ionic  lyrics  to  have  both 
used  the  anaclasis,  and  to  have  resolved  the  first  arsis  in  it, 
and  sometimes  to  have  put  in  a  molossus  ;  the  dramatic 
poets  took  a  middle  course — the  tragedians  rather  following 
the  JEolians,  the  comedians  the  lonians.  The  ionic  a 
minore  verse,  unlike  the  majore,  is  often  pure  in  the  Greek 
plays.  Timocreon,  Sappho,  Alcseus,  and  Ale-man,  wrote 
whole  poems  in  ionics. 


326  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

1 70.  Monom.  hypercat.  or  penthem.  ^tXeae  /warp  |  oc : 
Hec.  185. 

171.  Dim.  cat.  or  hephtliem.  tXarae  aicp  |  ojcojuole.  Phoen. 
1531.     Burney,  speaking  of  this  metre,   says,  the  first  foot 
is  pure  and  complete,  admitting,  however,  the  resolution  of 
the  long  syllable  ;  in  the  latter  place  a  molossus  ..seems  to 
be  admitted,  deficient  by  the  last  syllable,  and  of  this  foot 
either  long  syllable  may  be  resolved, 


172.  Dim.  acat.  irapaKXivovg'  \  ^TT^Kpavlv  :   Ag.  721. 

173.  Dim.    hypercat.    tepae    ^  |  pas    curopflfj  \  TOV    T  : 
Med.  822. 

174.  Trim,  brachycat.   SieSt^peD  |  at   MuprtXou  |  <ftovov. 
Orest.  984. 

175.  Trim.    acat.    /uoVaS'    o7a>  |  va    Sm^ow  |  aa    TOV    atl. 
Phoen.  1537. 

176.  Tetram.    cat.   TO    7?   JUTJV   £el  |  via    Soiio-ac  |  \oyog 
w<nrlp  |  XtYtrat.     This  species  was  used  by  Phrynicus  the 
tragedian,  and  also  by  Phrynicus  the  comedian. 

177.  The  tragedians  often  made  systems  of  ionic  a  minore 
verses,  employing  the  anaclasis  in  the  end  only  either  6f  the 
whole  strophe,  or  of  a  part ;  of  all  examples  the  most  satis- 
factory is  in  jEsch.  Suppl.  1025. 

178.  Anacreontic   verse  is  a  species  of  ionic,  of  which 
there  are  two   sorts,  one  with  an  iambic  or  monosyllabic 
anacrusis,  the  other  with  an  anapaestic  anacrusis.     Galli- 
ambic  verse  is  composed  of  two  anacreontics,  of  which  the 
last  is  catalectic.     It  was  much  used  by  Catullus,  who  gene- 
rally employed  the   anaclasis,   and   in  the  latter  portion 
joined  with  the  anaclasis  a  resolution  of  the  second  arsis. 


THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA.  327 

179.  Pceonic  metre. 

*A  pseonic  verse  admits  any  foot  of  the  same  time  as  a 
paeon,  i.  e.  any  foot  ofjiw  times,  viz. :  the  four  paeons,  a  cretic, 
a  bacchius,  a  palimbacchius,  and  a  tribrach  and  pyrrhic 
jointly.  The  tragedians,  however,  do  not  use  all  the  above  ; 
of  the  paeons,  the  first  and  fourth  are  found  most  constantly, 
(but  never  in  the  same  verse),  the  first  less  so  than  the 
fourth  ;  the  palimbacchius  and  the  third  paeon  are  very  sel- 
dom found,  even  in  comedy.  The  construction  of  the  verse 
is  most  perfect  (as  also  in  anapaestic  metre),  when  each 
metre  ends  with  a  word.  Some  paeonics  are  constructed 
with  an  iambic,  others  with  an  anapaestic  anacrusis.  The 
catalexis  is  made  on  three  syllables,  on  two,  and  on  one. 

180.  Most  metricians  regarding  the  measure  only  of  cre- 
tic and  bacchiac  numbers,  refer  them  to  the  pseonic  kind ; 
for  one  long  syllable  joined  to  three  short  generates  the 
four  pseons,  and  by  the  contraction  of  two  of  these  short 
syllables  into  one  long,  the  cretic,  bacchius  and  palimbac- 
chius are   formed.     Hermann  considers  them   as  distinct 
species,  and  assigns  good  reasons  for  doing  so. 

181.  Dim.  brachycat.  0/11070/^0?  |  Kvpil.  Phcen.  137.  Most 
examples  of  this  might  be  better  referred  to  dochmiacs. 

182.  Dim.  cat.  x^™&™  |  r  ^/35Xa.  Phcen.  113. 

183.  Dim.  acat.   ^io'ix^iW  \  o7Xo/u05.     Orest.  179. 

184.  Dim.  hypercat.  irapa  2j/iouvr  |  tote  o%t  \  role.  Orest. 
799. 

185.  Trim,  brachycat.  Kora/36<rrpu  j  ^o£  6/i/uoeri  |  yopyog. 
Phcen.  146. 

1  The  alternate  mixture  of  fourth  paeon  and  bacchius  constitutes 
the  most  harmonious  paeonic  verse.     The  first  paeon  is  chiefly  inter- 
mixed with  cretics,  being  never  found  at  the  end  of  a  verse.    Those 
verses  are  harsh.in  which  paeons  of  different  sorts  occur, 


328  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 


186.  Trim.  cat.  ftaXolfu  %po  \  vy  ^uyaSa  |  jutXtoV.  Phoen. 
169. 

187.  Trim.  neat.  TO  Se  KctXo>e  |  fcrajutvov,  aj  J  /utyo   vatHjv 
Choeph.  804. 

188.  Tetrara.  catalectic  on  three  syllables.  o>  TroXT  0T  |  X?j 
KIEK/OOTTOC  |  avTuQvtQ  \  ArTtKJj.   Arist.   Vesp.  1275.     This  is 
chiefly  found  in  comedy  ;  the  last  foot  may  be  a  dactyl  or 
cretic. 

189.  Pentam.  cat.  on  three  syllables  :    TTUVT    ayaQa  \  S>j 
"yryovev  |  avSpadiv  t  |  jurjc  airo  ovv  \  ovdiag.     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  paeonic  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  arc 
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  paeon,  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  awis. 


THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA.  o29 

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.  Kesolutions  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  all  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 


S30  THE   GBECIAN  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. 


- 
Kat  ytvou 


rav 


oppivav.  Msch.  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  paeon. 

194.  Trim.    acat.    nvrjanrij  \  /xtuv   TTOVOQ  \  KOI   irap    a  —  . 
Again.  173. 

vavQ  oTTwe  1  TTOi/rfotc  I  TTtiafJiatriv  \  .    Hec.  1063. 

195.  Tetram.   acat.     juarep    (5  j  TTOTVIO.  \  K\vOi   vuju  \  <j>av 
a/3/>av.  used  by  Simmias. 

196.  Hexam.  cat.    (Alcmanian).     'A^/ooSi  |  ra  fj.lv  OUK  j 
cart  flap  |  yoc  8'  "Epwc  |  oTa  Tratc  |  TrataSEi.    Ale. 

197.  Cretics  are  found  beginning  with  an  iambic  anacru- 
sis ;    Sta  Se  OvtXXa  ajraaai-    Eurip.   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.  Cretics  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,  "  Aiit  solutds  sinat, 
quds  argento  euierit."  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  dochrniacs  hypercatalectic. 

Dim.    aTToora  J  aa  K\iapov  |  .     Orest.  1439. 

Tetram.  n'e  ax***'  I  T'£  o^fia  |  ifpoaiirra  |  /*'  a^tyyi'je  J  . 
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,  on  Iv  rate 
fo^reue,  t v  at£  TrpocroSoi  tytvovTO,  TOIOVTOIG 

Dim.  acat.  a  Sc  Xivov  \  ijXaicara  |  .     Orest. 

Dim.  hypercat.  juoX;ray  S'  airo  \  ical  \opowol  utv.  Hec. 
905. 

Trim,  catal.  Xcuvtoif  j  AfKjnovog  \  opjavol^  \  .  Orest.  114. 

Trim,  hypercat.  fuyaXa  SI  j  rlf  Svvajutc  1  Sf  aXaaro  \  piJitv. 
Or.  1562. 

202.  Polyschematistic  Verses  (TroXu  o-^jj/ua). 

This  name  is  given  to  verses  in  which  there  are  irregular 
feet.  The  most  remarkable  species  are  the  Glyconic  and 
Pherecratean,  which  have  been  mentioned  before.  The 
Priapeian  verse  consists  of  a  glyconic  and  pherecatean  joined 
in  one.  The  Eupolidean  verse,  peculiar  to  comedians,  con- 
sists of  a  glyconic,  having  a  choriambus  in  the  end,  and  ano- 
ther like  member,  in  which  is  a  cretic  instead  of  a  choriam- 
bus. The  Cratinean  metre  differs  from  the  Eupolidean  in  the 
first  portion  only,  in  which  it  has  a  choriambus  and  an 
iambic  dipodia. 
203.  Versus  Asynarteti,  (a  priv.  et  truvo/aratu,  connecto). 

Verses  in  which  dissimilar  species  are  united  are  so  called. 
In  these  the  coherence  of  language  may  be  either  continued 
unbroken,  or  interrupted  by  hiatus  and  the  doubtful  sylla- 
ble.* 

A  verse  of  this  kind,  in  which  a  trochaic  syzygy  is  fol- 
lowed by  an  iambic  syzygy,  or  vice  versa,  is  termed  period- 
icus. 

Troch.  syz.  -f  iamb.  syz.  Sava  Sttva  {  ir'tirovBafjiiv.  Hec. 
1080.  Periodic. 

*  Hence  they  are  also  called  "  Scininexi,"  half  connected. 


THE    GRECIAN*    DRAMA,  333 

Troch.  syz.  +  Iamb,  penthem.  tvQa  Trpwro  j  yuvo^rt  <£o7  | 
v7£,     Hec.  45  7. 

Trocb.   syz.    +    Iamb.    dim.    cat.    Qfuriv  \  'A.trt  \  Savov  \ 
X7;ra7  |  vfiv.      Hec.  453. 

Iamb.  syz.  +  Troch.  syz.  juoXoTwt  rav  \  ovoavov  KOI.    Or. 
971.   Periodic. 

Iamb,  monom.  -f  Troch.  monom.  hypercat.  -rrtoav  \  ffiyttv 
|  T*  wXt  |  val?  TIEK  |  vou.      Phoen.  307. 

Iamb,  monom.  +  Troch.  ithyph.  or/oarij  \  Xarwv  |  EXXa  | 
coc  Tror'  |  OVTWV.     Or.  960. 

Iamb,  monom.  +  Troch.  dim.  cat.    irvpa>  \  &iv  1%  \  'iXi  | 
ow  ^»t  j  XoT<rt  |  TTE/u.     Ag.  428. 

Iamb,  monom.  -f  Troch.  dim.  t/3ac  |  t/3ac  |  a»  7rr£  |  poi/er- 
era  |  yag  X6  |  \tvna.    Phoen.  1033. 

Dactylic,  penthem.  +  Iamb,  penthem.  l\B'  tn-t  |  novpov 
e  j  /note  |  <^TXo7  |  fft  :rav  1  ra>c.    Or.  1292. 

Iamb,  penth.  +  Dactyl,  penth..  called  lambelegus  ; 
trapot  1  &tv  |  tvytvt  |  rav  trt — ^>of.     Phren.  152o. 

Dactyl,   dim.  +  Anap.  monom.   aiXivvv,  aTXTi/ov  | 
Oavarov.    Eur.  Or.  1404. 

Dact.  dim.  +  Troch.  ith\~phallic.    fj   narooarovov  \ 
XfTpT  fcaOat    Or.  824. 

Anap.  monom.  +  Iamb,  penthem.  tTnct;zi>toi>  <7>c 
ec  tvva»/.    Hec.  915. 

Iambic  penth.  +  Anap.  monom.  KTuTrijere  Kpara  |  jutXtov 
TrXtryoi'.      Or.  1471. 

Dact.  +  Troch.  has  been  considered  under  the  appella- 
tion of  logaoedic. 

Troch.   monom.  +  Anap.   monom.   aT0tp   ajUTrro  j  JUEVOC 
ovpaviov.     Hec.  1083. 

Anap,  monom.  +  Troch,  monom.  Oifyarijp  AToc  ti)  1  wira 
.     GEd,  T.  198, 


334  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

Cretic.  monom.  +  Troch.  pentli.  OVK  t^a  \  r 
Agam.  361. 

Troch.     dipenthemimer-       fju^oirapB^voQ  \  Saivov 
Phoen.  1037. 

The  following  are  instances  of  asynartete  verses  from 
Horace. 

Dact.  tetrara.  +  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  | 
aniore  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  Saturnian 
verse,  which  was  the  only  one  used  by  the  most  ancient 
Roman  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  Metelli  |  Nsevlo  poetse."  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.  335 

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 
pseonic,  the  other  from  the  trochaic  to  the  spondiac. 

205.  A  system  is   a  coherence  of   continuous  numbers 
formed  of  connected  verses.     A  tfropM,  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  necessaiy  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  differs  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  Trpot^Soc,  the  posterior  i-n-t^og. 
The  second  kind  of  strophes  is  that  used  by  the  ^Eolic  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  rnono- 
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.F.r.A.A.E. 

When  the  words  sTr^Soc  and  irpoM^oQ  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,  .ZEolic,  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  cretic,  some  forms  too  of  trochees, 
iambi,  and  antispasts  being  admitted.  The  jiEolic  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  .^Eolic. 

208.  Metricians  divide  poems  with  respect  to  repetitions  of 
numbers  into  two  kinds,  which  are  called  Kara  ari\ov,  and 
Kara  (rv<jr»}/ia  or  duorrj/zartKa.  Those  Kara  ort^ov  are  such  as 
are  composed  of  verses  only,  consisting  throughout  of  one  kind 
of  metre,  as  the  Iliad  of  Homer  ;  those  Kara  avorr^ta  such 
as  are  composed  of  systems  or  strophes.  When  these  kinds 
are  so  conjoined  in  one  poem,  that  part  is  written  Kara  <m- 
\ov,  and  part  Kara  auarrj/ua,  such  poems  are  called  juiicra 
•ysviKa.  as  tragedies,  and  the  ancient  comedies ;  and  when 
they  may  be  taken  indifferently  to  be  written  either  Kara 
ari\ov,  or  Kara  o-uorijjua,  they  are  called  tcotva  yEvtica,  as 
many  of  the  Anacreontic  poems,  which  may  appear  to  be 
composed  either  of  verses  only,  or  of  strophes.  Those  which 
are  written  Kara  ort'xov  are  divided  into  /ujcra,  which  have 
different  verses  in  different  parts,  as  the  comedies  of  Me- 
nander  had,  and  a^ticra,  which  have  the  same  kind  of  verses 
in  every  part,  as  epic  poems.  Of  the  avoTTjjUariKa  there  are 
six  classes  : 

1.  Kara    aytmv.       2.  aTroXeXu/uva.      3.   ,araKTa.      4;     !£ 
ojuoiwv.     5.  judcra.      6.   KOIVU. 

(1)  Those  Kara  a\t(riv  are  such  as  have  corresponding 
systems,  i.  e.  in  which  the  same  system  is  repeated. 

(2)  'ATroXtXvjuei/a  are  those  composed  without  any  certain 
rule,  in  which  the  arrangement  is  arbitrary,   depending  on 
the  fancy  of  the  poet ;  they  are  either  dcrr/oo^a,  consisting 


338  THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 


of  certain  metres  alone,  or  arpo^iKa,  consisting  of  strophes. 
The  corpora  comprehend  tTn^win'jjuara,  or  exclamations,  as 
$et;,  lw  ;  tyvfjivia,  which  consist  of  certain  words,  as,  'I/jte 
Ilaiav  ;  these,  when  not  in  the  end,  but  in  the  middle  of  a 
strophe,  are  called  juEtrujuvm  ;  and  cTrt^^EyjuartKa,  such  as 
have  the  length  of  a  whole  verse.  The  arpo^tKa  are  either 
fiovoarpofya  or  TroAuorpo^a  ;  the  juovoarpo^a  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  arjujjra  ;  the  TroXvarpo^a 
are  such  as  consist  of  several  stropfies  ;  if  they  have  dissi- 
milar strophes,  they  are  called  avojuoioffrpo^a,  if  similar, 
rrapojuotoorpo^a  ;  and  of  these  the  avojuotoarpo^a,  if  they 
contain  only  two  strophes,  are  called  Irepoarpo^a. 

(3)  aretKTa  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  arixpv. 

(4)  To  t£  6/iottov  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 
Anapaests,  Ionics,  &c.     They  are  either  airipioptara,  which 
form  one  system   of  similar  verses,  or  Kara  Trepiopitrjuoue 
av  taoue,  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.F.  A.E. 

(5)  fjuKra  are  formed  of  different  systematic  kinds  con- 
joined, such,  e.  g.  as  are  partly  Kara  ayiaiv,  and  partly 
aTroXeAvjueva. 

(6)  Koiva  are  those  which  may  seem  to  be  of  one  or  ano- 


THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA.  339 

ther  kind  indifferently,  as  Hor.  Carm.  iii.  12.,  which  to  an 
unskilful  person  will  seem  to  be  i£  opolwv,  to  a  skilful  one 
Kara  (j-^iaiv. 

Of  those  called  K-ara  a\iaiv  there  are  these  species  : 

(1)  fjiovo<rrpo(f>ixa.  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  avTurrpoQiKov. 

(2)  £7rci>£tica,  in  which  a  dissimilar  combination  of  verses 
is  added  to  similar  systems ;  when  at  the  end,  they  are 
{Trco&ica,  properly  so  called,  in  this  form  A.A.B.,   which  is 
called  rpiag  iirwSiKri ;   or  in  this,  A.A.A.B.,  which  is  called 
TET/oac ;  or  in  this,  A. A.  A.A.B..   which  is  called  Trsvrag  ;  of 
which  the  most  in  use  is  the  r/otac :  when  at  the  beginning, 
irpoySiKo.  ;  when  in  the  middle,  utaySiKa  ;  when  different  at 
the    beginning  and   end,  TrtpiySiKa ;   when  similar,  TraXtv- 
yciKa ;   thus, 

A.A.B.  Epodica.     A.B.A.  Mesodica.     B.A.A.  Proodica. 
B.A.A.r.  Periodica.      B. A.A.B.  Palinodica. 

Strophe.         ~\  Strophe.         }  Epodua.  } 

Ant-strophe.    >Epodica.  Epodui.          >  Mesodica.          Strophe.  >  Proodica. 

Epodu».          )  Anti*trophe.  J  AntUtrophe.  J 

Epodtu.  1.    -\  Strophe.  -J 

Strophe.         f  „  Epodus.         f  „ 

V  Periodica.  >  Palinodica. 

Antistrophe.  (  Epodus.         I 

Bpodus.  2.     )  Antistrophe.  J 

(3)  Kara  irtpiKOirrjv  avo/uoiOjUf^f/,  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.F.A.,  A.B.r.A. 

(4)  avTi0m»cci,  where  the  first  of  a  combination  corres- 
ponds with  the  last,  the  second  with  the  penultimate,  and 
so  forth.     Hermann  classes  the  avriOtTiKa  under  7raAti<(ucocax, 
which  he  says  are  then  called  avnOtmci,  when  single  verses, 


340  THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

and  not  strophes,  correspond  to  each  other  in  that  manner, 
as,  a.fi.y.y.fl.a. 

(5)  jut*™  Kara.  <T\fcrii>,   in  which  some  of  the  preceding 
species  are  conjoined,  as  epodic  and  mesodic,  thus,  A.B.A.F. 
or  palinodic  and  mesodic,  as,  A.B.F.A.F.B.A. 

(6)  Koiva  Kara  a\iaiv-,   which  may,  according  to  different 
divisions,  be  referred  to  different  species ;  thus,  those  called 
Kara  irepiKOtrriv  avojuotojutpf),   A.B.A.B.  become  JUOVOCTT/OO^JKO 
F.F.  by  joining  A.B.  in  one  strophe  F. 

There  are  none  of  these  kinds  of  which  there  remain  not 
many  examples  even  now,  but  the  most  uncommon  are  the 
TtTpas  and  Trtvrac  tTrwStKTj.  The  most  in  use  is  the  T/>mV, 
as  in  the  greatest  part  of  the  poems  of  Pindar  and  Simo- 
nides.  The  /iovoarpo^iica  were  used  chiefly  in  the  poetry  of 
the  more  ancient  lyrics,  who  were  followed  by  the  Koman 
poets.  Those  lyrics  wrote  many  poems,  also,  Kara  OT'I\OV, 
of  which  the  shortest  form  is  perhaps  that  which  Sappho 
constructed  of  Adonic  verses.  Alcman  joined  two  fonns  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.jS.jS.-y, 7.8.8.,  with  an 
epode,  thus,  a.a.j3./3.7/y.8.8.e.,  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   GRECIAX    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  parabasis,  which  is  an 
address  of  the  chorus  to  the  spectators,  is  particularly  re- 
markable ;  a  parabasis,  which  is  entire,  consists  of  seven 
parts,  viz.  KO/u/uariov,  irapaftaaig,  paicpuv,  arpo^tj,  strip  pi]  jua, 
aiTtoTjOo^oc,  avr£7T//u|orjjua,  the  three  first  of  its  parts  being 
unequal,  and  the  other  four  answering  to  one  another  alter- 
nately, in  this  manner  : 


7ra/oa|3a<Ttc. 


£. 


f.          avrtiripprifjia. 

The  first  three  parts,  and  the  lirippr\fjLa  and  a 
are  recited  by  the  coryphaeus. 

The  Ko/u^uemov  is  a  song  composed  of  dimeter,  or  tetra- 
meter anapsestics,  not  having  antistrophes. 

The  Hapafiaaiq  consists  mostly  of  anapsestic  tetrameters, 
though  sometimes  of  another  metre  ;  but  is  always  composed 
Kara  crrt^oi',  i.  e.  in  the  same  verse  still  repeated. 

The  Maicpbv  commonly  consists  of  anapaestic  dimeters, 
and  is  such,  that  it  ought  to  be  recited  awt  U<TT»,  i.  e.  in  one 
breath  ;  on  which  account  it  is  also  called 


342  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

The  Sr/oo0r/>  which  is  also  called  ^£77,  is  a  song  written 
in  melic  verses,  to  which,  when  the  tTn'/o/orj/xa  has  been 
recited,  the  avriaTpo^o^  called  also  avr^Sry,  answers  in  the 
same  metres. 

The  'ETn'jOpTjjua  consists  usually  of  trochaic  tetrameters, 
which  the  coryphaeus  recites  when  the  strophe  has  been 
sung.  To  this,  when  the  antistrophe  has  been  sung,  the 
avr£irippn)fjia  answers  in^  the  same~number  of  verses  of  the 
same  metre. 

I, 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,  anapaests,  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.fi.fi.y.y.     The  proodus  seems  not  to 
have  been  used  jn  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  therparodi  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. 

21 3.  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.  jUf<r<t>§oc-  7-  S.  /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  OK^V^  ;   or  which  are  divided  be- 
tween the  actors  and  chorus,  called  KO/H/JLOI  ;  or  which  are 
sung  by  certain  parts  alternately  of  the  chorus  alone.     The 

'TCI  OTTO  (TKrjvJjc  are  sometimes  cnroXeXvueva,  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  jfEschy- 
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,  St,  /utv,  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  S/JTTOU,  turejo,  icaiVot, 

*  Lyric  senarii  are  not  taken  into  account ;  in  these  the   canon  is 
leis  generally  observed. 


THE   GRECIAN'    DRAMA.  34-5 

6<me,  roiydp,  TOIVVV,  <S:c.  &c.     The  following  are  instances 
of  this  canon : 

Elc  ra<rSe  yap  /3\t^a<r'  [  STTTJU^O.UJJV  raSf.      Suppl.  8. 
"EvscfTi  avyyva>ij.i]v  \  SE  rtj>S'  fXflv  Xptwv.     Suppl.  251. 
In  the  fourteen  tragedies  of  Sophocles  and  JEschylus,  this 
canon  is  violated  more  than  thrice  as  often  as  in  the  seven- 
teen tragedies  of  Euripides. 

218.  The  following  canons  are  given  by  Dawes  : 

(1)  A  short  vowel  before  either  the  soft  mutes  TT,  K,  T, 
or  the  aspirates,   <f>,   •%,  9,   followed  by  any  liquid  ;   as  also, 
before  the  middle  mutes  /3.  y,  S,  followed  by  p,  always  closes 
a  short  syllable,  that  is,  remains  short. 

(2)  A  short  vowel  before  the  middle  mutes  /3,  7,  £,  fol- 
lowed by  any  liquid  except  p,  always  closes  a  long  syllable. 

(3)  It  is  peculiar  to  the  Attic  speech,   always  to  impart 
the  force  of  a  double  consonant  to  words,  which,  as  they  are 
at  present  written,  begin  with  p.     Monk  limits  the  applica- 
tion of  the  third  rule  to  those  cases  in  which  the  syllable 
preceding  p  is  In  Iciu. 

The  first  of  these  rules  Dawes  meant  to  apply  to  the 
comic  poets,  the  second  both  to  the  comic  and  tragic.  The 
third  expresses  the  usage  of  the  Attics  in  general.  Person 
perceived  that  Dawes"  rules,  though  general,  were  not  uni- 
versal. He  himself  says,  that  a  short  vowel  before  a  mute 
and  liquid,  though  seldom  lengthened,  is  most  frequently  so 
in  uncompounded  words,  as.  rinvov  ;  much  more  rarely  in  a 
compound  word,  if  the  short  vowel  terminate  the  first  part, 
as,  7roXu \pvaoq  ;  equally  seldom  lengthened  in  augments, 
as,  t7reicAw<7£v  ;  still  more  rarely  where  a  preposition  is  joined 
to  a  verb,  as,  a^oTpoiroi.  To  these  canons,  also,  there  are 
many  exceptions.  Dunbar  explains  both  Dawes"1  and  Por- 
eon's  canons,  and  their  exceptions,  by  the  ictus.  The 


346  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

following  are  his  conclusions  from  a  deduction  of  several 
examples : 

(1)  In  iambic  verse  the  Attic  poets  never  lengthened  a 
short  vowel  before  the  mutes  and  liquids,  with  the  exception 
of  /3X,  yX,  y/j.,  yv,  fyt,  Si/,*  unless  they  formed  the  second 
syllable  of  the  foot,  when  the  harmony  of  the  verse  required 
the  vowel  to  be  pronounced  with  a  lengthened  tone,  as, 
'AXX'  lv  irirpoiai  irirpov  licTjo/|3a>i>  /uoXtc-  Soph.  Phil.  297. 

This  principle  can  be  extended  to  the  doubtful  vowels  in 
certain  words,  when  unsupported  by  mutes  and  liquids; 
thus,  the  i  in  tar/ooe,  the  A  in  "Ap»ie,  the  a  in  cm,  the  a  in 
the  accusative 'of  such  nouns  as  jSoo-tXtue,  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  the 
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.  Dawes1 
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  f  has  this  power,  f  should  also  have  it  in  compound 
words,  in  which,  however,  they  inconsistenly  double  the  p,  as  iripippvrov  • 
they  similarly  err  in  inserting  a  sigma  in  such  words  as  £ot>Xo/*i<r9a,  inas- 
much as  the  Greeks  particularly  exclude  from  before  consonants  the 
hissing  sound  of  sigma  ;  thus  they  wrote  <roq>urt(o!  for  ffo<p°<mpot ;  so  also 
Euripides  was  ridiculed  for  this  line,  'E<no<«  3'  as  JWiv  '£w.iiywx  ovoi. 


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  anapaest,  which  enabled  them  to 
bring  the  tone  of  then-  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. : 

A«|*«IAf»IA«l*f«|Af» 

vv\vv\vv\vv\vv\vv. 
Also  another  in  his  Equites,  viz.  : 

juv  /j.v  |  fiv  fjiv  |  fiv  fjiv  \  f.iv  fjiv  \  fiv  IJLV  \  fiv  fiv  \  . 

(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,  Trarpog,  OKVOQ,  JUOK/>OC. 
Tfnvov,   SaKjDu,  o^Xoc,  TTETrXo?.     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  anapaestic  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 


848  THE   GRECIAN    D1UMA. 

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  TTi-rpag,  that  syllable  is  said  to  be  short  by 
nature  ;  if  in  combination  with  the  first  of  those  consonants, 
as  in  irfT-pag,  the  syllable  is  then  said  to  be  long  by  position. 

(2)  The  subjoined  list  comprises  all  the  pairs  of  conso- 
nants which  may  leg-in  a  word,  and  also  permit  a  short  vowel 
within  the  same  word  to  form  a  short  syllable. 

i.  irp,  Kp,  rp  :  t^p,  xp>  Op  '•  fipi  JP-,  $p-  ii-  vA,  icA,  rX  : 
$A,  ^A,  0A.  iii.  TTV,  KV  :  -^y,  Ov.  iv.  77*. 

The  only  remaining  pairs,  /3A,  7  A  :  fyt :  and  /AV,  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,  K/Z  :  \/j.,  O/JL:  TV:  $v,  though  not  initial, 
yet  within  the  same  word  are  permissive. 

(3)  More  than  twenty  other  combinations  of  consonants, 
(along  with  £,  £,  ^),  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    GRECIAX    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  correp- 
tions   within   the   same   word  are   more   uncommon  than 
between  one  word  and  another.  Aristophanes  (with  very  few 
exceptions  in  anapsestic  verse),  never  allows  a  short  vowel 
cum  ictii  to  form  a  long  syllable  with  any  permissive  pair, 
«ven  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 
jpositio,  makes  the  syllable  long.  A.  345,  H.  189.     Even  the 
loose  vowel  of  the  augment,  wrhen  it  precedes  rrX,  icX,  Kp,  rp, 
Arc.  initial  of  the  verb,  not  only  cum  ictu,\)ut  even  extra  ictum, 
-he  makes  to  form  a  long  syllable.  A.  46,  309.     No  dissylla- 
bic word  like  irarpbg,  rlicvov,  &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  Tvord,  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 


THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

same  word  readily  allows  it.  In  Euripides,  even  those  dis- 
syllabic words  Ttwov,  &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  ;  Person  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  rrs/oi  before  a  vowel,  either  in  the 
same,  or  in  different  words. 

221.  The  Doric  dialect  is  occasionally  used  in  anapaestic 
verse. 

222.  Ot<TToe  is  always  a  dissyllable  with  the  Attics  :  0«6c- 
/u?)  ov-rj  ov,  are  mostly  monosyllables. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


SECTION  I. 

ANALYSIS  OF  HERMANN'S  TREATISE    OX    THE   DOCTRINE   OF    METRES. 

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  " De  Musica"  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 


352  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  acquantance  with  which  would  have 
been  of  essential  service  to  us,  viz. :  the  rhythmopoeia  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,  Person,  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  aa 
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.  "NVe  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  rhythm  or  nurii' 
lers.     Numlfi-s   are  a  fitly   disposed  succession   of  tinus. 
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 


So 4  THE    6TTEOIAN    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.  defined  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  ly  equality  of  times  ;  and  symme- 
try an  image  of  a  series  of  coherent  parts,  expressed  by 
equality  of  spaces. 

o.  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  wliich  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  willed  the  ictus. 
The  ictus,  then,  is  a  greater  force  in  marking  some  one 
time,  and  indicating  the  absolute  cau.se  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,  ^v,  ^wv/  x,v,wvy  '•>  (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,  -U/-w  |  — ^-^  j  -w-^  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  w^w.  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 
js  a  thetical  time  ;  but  the  same  time,  by  the  accession  of 


THE   GRECIAN   DBAMA.  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  infnltum.     But  when  we  say,  that  tunes  axe  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  w,  or  of  both  arsis  and  thesis, 
^w,  ~v^v/ ;  or  periodic,  which  are  composed  of  several  order- 
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  Cv,  wv,  ^vw,  vww. 
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/v,  ww/Cvy:  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  —w-^v~ 
-Iwv-v^-v,  and  the  third  in  this  —  wv>»-v/^-v-\y. 

10.  The  force  of  the  arsis  in  periodic  orders  may  increase 
also  ;  but  when  this  happens,  that  arsis  which  is  stronger 


TliE    GRECIAN   DHAMA.  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,  ~w^v^  ;  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  Olympic  coelicola.     -Iv^-w-Huy*, 

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,  -U^w^-ww-w. 
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, 


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,  -v.  -v/v, 

— vywvy. 

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. 


S60  THE   GRECIAN    DHAMAt 

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,  _^:  but 
these  are  correct,  vv,  -  -.  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 
„-  is  faulty,  but  these  are  regular  v<^,  --.  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, 
w-,  vv/1.  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, 


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   GRECIAX   DRAMA.  S61 

out  rhythm  or  numbers.  Metricians  use  only  two  measures ; 
the  single,  or  short,  called  by  the  Greeks  yjpovog  and 
<n/jujtoi'.  by  the  Latins  tempus  and  rnora  ;  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  quadrisyllable  feet ; 
they  are  the  same  as  those  given  by  other  prosodians. 

'14.  A  iJ.uvMfid  measure,  called  in  Greek  ae<a$opoc,  is 
one  which  may  be  indifferently  either  long  or  short.  There 
is  also  another  measure,  called  in  Latin  irrationalis.  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  eft'ect  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  trinie- 


36'2  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  anaptest,  being  put  for  a  trochee  and 
iambus,  have  two  short  syllables  nearly  equal  to  one  short 
one,  which  is  the  due  measure. 

17.  Secondly,  by  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,  by  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  anapzestic, 
in  which  not  only  these  three  numbers  are  commuted, 


but  a  combination  also  of  the  second  and  third  is  added 
vv-5  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, 


KO7T        —       KCtT         —        Kttl        — 

ww   TTCCTE    ww    vavs.    w   Kara 


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.  l>y  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, 


whence,  the  doubtful  times  being  marked,  the  numbers  will 

appear  thus, 

-v/w-  Choriambi. 

— jlwvy  Ionic?  i  majori. 

vw_l)_l|vw— (-1    Ionics  a  minori. 

— P-I--I- 

This  change  amounts,  both  in  choriambics  and  ionic?,  (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 

J  "  ~-  T 

is  peculiar  to  those  species  of  polyschematistic  verses, 
termed  Glyconean  and  Pherecratean,  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, 


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  syzygics, 
are  called  KwXa,   if  not  of  entire  syzygies,  Kojujuara.     The 
numbers  of  every  verge  are  continuous :   the  continuity  of 
the  language,  therefore,  ought  not  to  be  broken  by  an  unal- 
lowable hiatus,  or  by  admission  of  a   doubtful  syllable  into 
an  undue  place. 

22.  Asynartete  verses  are  those  whose  parts  are  conjoined 
at  the  pleasure  of  the  poet,  the  continuity  of  the  words  being 


THE    GRECIAN'    DRAMA.  365 

sometimes  preserved,  sometimes  neglected,  the  hiatus  and 
doubtful  syllable  being  admitted.  This  definition  differs 
from  that  of  Heath,  who,  although  he  had  defined  asynar- 
tetes  to  be  verses  consisting  of  two  or  more  shorter  ones,  so 
joined  together  as  to  form  one,  denied  the  license  of  the 
adiaphorous  syllable  to  any  excepting  the  closing  member — 
thus  subjecting  them  to  the  same  law  with  other  species  of 
verse,  in  which  a  perfect  continuity  of  number  is  found. 

23.  Hermann  advances  two  other  objections  to  the  metrical 
nomenclature  of  the  grammarians.     The  first  respects  the 
verses  called  polyschematisti,  which  he  defines  to  be  such 
as  admit  of  various  forms  by  a  transposition  of  a  part  of 
their  numbers,  (sec.  20).     The  grammarians  applied  the 
term  to  such  also  as  allowed  of  a  change  in  number,  but  fell 
into  the  error  of  a  too  exclusive  regard  to  the  system  of 
syzygies,  which  they  had  themselves  originated,  a  conse- 
quence of  which  was,  that  they  frequently  referred  verses  of 
the  most  discordant  character  to  some  one  genus  variously 
modified  by  the  license  of  the  poets. 

24.  The  second  objection  concerns  the  nirpa  KOT*  avrnra- 
Qtiav  fjiiKTa.     This  denomination  he  conceives  to  have  been 
frequently  misapplied,  in  consequence  also  of  too  exclusive 
a  consideration  of  the  syzygies  ;  since,  if  number  be  taken 
into  account,  it  frequently  happens,  that-  verses  which  are 
usually  ranked  under  this  class  present  no  antipathia  what- 
ever.    The  rule  in  such  cases  is,  to  resolve  the  verses  into 
their  orders,   not  into  their  syzygies,   and  to  denominate 
them  from  the  result.     An  example  or  two  will  place  this  in 
a  clearer  light.     The  species  of  metre  termed  the  Epionicum 
a  majore,  or  Alcaicum  hendecasyllabum,  is  regarded  by  Dr. 
Maltby  and  others  as  /HIKTOV  icar1  avrnradtiav,  from  its  con- 
taining a  diiambus  connected  with  a   choriambus ;  but 


366  THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

Hermann  proposes  a  resolution  into  two  orders,  in  the  first 
of  which  the  commencing  syllable  is  the  anacrusis  to  a  tro- 
chaic number,  while  the  second  is  dactylic.  This,  as  is 
manifest,  restores  the  rhythm.  Another  example  is  the 
Sapphic,  or  Epichoriambicum  hendecasyllabum.  This  He- 
pheestion  terminates  with  a  foot  of  three  syllables,  which 
by  adiaphoria  may  be  either  a  bacchius  or  an  amphibrachys, 
the  rhythm  of  which  is  plainly  repugnant  to  the  choriambus 
that  forms  the  intermediate  measure.  Hermann,  however, 
separates  it  into  two  periodical  orders,  the  first  of  which  is 
a  trochaic  syzygy,  with  the  fourth  syllable  doubtful,  and  the 
second  a  dactylic.  The  parity  of  number  is  in  this  way 
clearly  restored,  and  coincides  with  that  which  results  from 
the  ordinary  scansion  of  the  sapphic.  This  measure  is  also 
classed  by  Dr.  Maltby  under  the  head  of  those  icaf  avrnra- 
6siav,  and  is  resolved  by  him  in  the  same  way  with  Hephses- 
tion,  with  this  difference  alone,  that  he  admits  the  long 
syllable  at  the  close  of  the  first  syzygy,  or  in  other  words, 
the  variety  of  the  second  epitrite.  This  latter  is  the  one 
invariably  preferred  by  Horace  ;  but  Catullus  allows  himself 
in  these  instances  the  license  of  a  ditrochee,  as  also  of  a 
neglect  of  the  penthemimeral  caesura,  which  Horace  is  very 
strict  in  observing.  Catullus,  indeed,  appears  to  have  con- 
formed more  scrupulously  than  Horace  to  the  Greek  models 
in  this  description  of  metre.  In  composing  verses  in  this 
metre,  we  should  never  introduce  a  division  of  a  word  be- 
tween two  of  the  hendecasyllabic  verses,  however  this  may 
appear  allowable  from  it  so  frequently  taking  place  between 
the  third  and  the  penthemimcr  choriambic,  (or  adonic),  that 
follows.  That  it  does  so  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  clost  - 
ness  of  the  connexion  that  subsists  between  them.  Again, 
the  penthemimeral  csesura  requires  not  to  be  observed  with 


THE    GRECIAN"    DRAMA  367 

great  strictures,  nor  the  termination  of  the  first  syzygy  with 
a  Ions:  syllable.  Those  who  model  their  verses  according  to 
the  Horatian  measure,  confine  themselves  within  unneces- 
sarily narrow  limits. 

25.  The  epiploke  is  a  metrical  artifice  which  consists  in  an 
iteration  of  the  same  feet,  and  such  as  by  alternately  adding 
and  subtracting  part    thereof  exhibit  the  same  numl 

Of  this  grammarians  have  specified  three  principal  so: 
The  first  consisted  of  a  series  of  iambi,  and  was  made  to 
assume  the  trochaic  measure  by  the  addition  of  a  long  syl- 
lable to,  or  its  subduction  from,  the  beginning  :  this  was 
called  the  epiploke  rpia^oq  SvatiKi'i.  The  second,  or  rtr/oa- 
ffrjuoc  £ua£(K}},  was  the  name  given  to  a  combination  of 
dactyls,  to  the  commencement  of  which  if  two  limes  be 
added,  or  from  it  two  subtracted,  the  number  becomes 
anapaestic.  The  denomination  dua&iuj  arose  from  the  cir- 
cumstance of  two  kinds  of  numbers  resulting  from  this 
change  ;  but  supposing  a  number  to  be  given  presenting  a 
combination  of  trochees  and  iambi  alternately,  we  may 
form  by  the  continual  subduction  and  addition  of  a  syllable 
the  following  numbers  :  ionic  a  minore.  antispastic,  and  ionic 
a  majore,  which  give  us,  in  conjunction  with  the  original 
measure,  four  species.  The  combination  is  from  this  cir- 
cumstance called  t£ci(7j;/uoc  rapo&irif,  Hermann  extends 
this  doctrine  of  the  epiploke  to  paeonic  and  cretic  verses, 
contrary  to  the  opinion  of  the  Scholiast  on  Hephcestiou.  and 
illustrates  his  position  by  its  application  to  two  dimeters,  one 
composed  of  pseons  y.  and  the  other  of  cretics  : 

the  measures  that  result  are  paeons  <?  uarti  generis,  and  baeehii. 

26.  Catalexis   signifies   the   detraction   of  one  or  more 
times  from  the  end  of  a  verse.     The  manner  in  which  verses 
end  is  termed  airofcafc.    With  relation  to  this,  lines  are 


368  THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

denominated  acatalectic,  catalectic,  brachycatalectic,  and 
hypercatalectic.  The  meaniug  of  these  terms  has  been 
given ;  it  may  be  remarked,  however,  that  the  first  two  and 
the  last  are  applied  to  verses  whether  scanned  by  dipodiae 
or  otherwise,  while  the  third  implies  a  resolution  of  the 
verse  into  dipodiae.  It  has  been  mentioned  that,  in  dacty- 
lics, verses  may  be  catalectic  and  hypercatalectic  sic  avXXa- 
/3rji/,  or  tie  8i(yuXXaj3ov,  according  as  the  truncated  foot  is 
deficient  by  two  times  or  one,  or  according  as  the  verse  is 
redundant  by  one  or  two  syllables.  In  paeonic  verses, 
however,  we  may  have  a  catalexis  on  a  trisyllable,  as  also 
an  hypercatalexis.  These,  however,  were  not  recognised  by 
the  old  metrical  writers,  who  reckoned  a  verse  of  the  paeonic 
kind,  which  was  catalectic  on  .a  trisyllable,  as  hypercatalec- 
tic, with  the  last  foot  an  amphimacer. 

27.  A  system  is  a  collection  of  verses  joined  in  an  unin- 
terrupted succession,  which  is  governed  by  the  same  rules 
as  those  by  which  orders  are  assembled  into  a  verse. 

28.  Since  music*  admits  not  only  more  than  two  measures, 
but  a  greater  variation  of  numbers  than  the  metrical  art, 
which  regards  the  recitation  only  of  verses,  the  numbers  of 
verses  must  unavoidably  be  changed  by  singing.     And  the 
evidences  of  the  changes  so  effected,  are,  on  account  of  the 
want  of  testimonies  of  writers  on  the  point,   collected  from 
the  conformation  itself  of  metres,  which  present  certain  diffi- 
culties otherwise  inexplicable.     Hitherto  a  threefold  con- 
junction   of   musical    with    metrical    numbers   has    been 
discovered,  viz. :  by  measure  greater  than  metrical,  ly  pause, 
by  paracataloge. 

*  The  musicians  every  now  and  then  accelerated  or  retarded  the 
measure  of  times;  \\hich  proceeding  was  called  « w$ :  whence  the 
same  foot  was  in  one  place  much  shorter,  in  another  much  slower. 


THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA.  369 

29.  A  measure  greater  than  metrical  is  exhibited  in  the 
feet  called  orthius  and  semantics  trochee  ;  both  of  which 
consisted  of  two  long  syllables,  the  one  of  four,  the  other  of 
eight  times  ;  the  shorter  part  being  the  first  in  the  orthhis, 
and  the  last  in  the  semantus  trochee  ;  hence,  the  latter,  as 
its  name   indicates,  resembles  a  trochee,  the   former  an 
iambus. 

30.  A  pause  is  sometimes  made  in  the  middle  of  a  mu- 
sical rhythm  ;  and  this,  since  it  causes  the  admission  both 
of  an  hiatus  and  of  a  doubtful  syllable,  requires  that  the 
verse  should  end  in  the  same  place. 

31.  Paracataloge  is  a  relaxation  of  rhythm  approaching 
to  the  loose  numbers  of  common  conversation;  this  by  men  \ 
dern  musicians  is  called  recitative.     It  is  perceived  in  two 
particulars  ;  in  the  remission  of  celerity  in  the  end  of  certain 
numbers,  as  dochmiac  and  glyconeau,  whence  these  receive 

a  spondee  in  the  place  of  the  concluding  iambus  :  and  next 
in  the  resolution  of  the  whole  rhythm  ;  which  is  effected  by 
the  adjection  of  several  short  syllables  to  certain  numbers, 
as  to  dochmiac  numbers. 

32.  Language  of  itself  has  numbers  or  rhythm  ;  because 
without  rhythm  neither  could  syllables  be  joined  in  words, 
nor  words  be  joined  in  sentences,  and  distinguished   one 
from  another  ;  its  indication  in  the  former  being  accent,  and 
in  the  latter,  intension  or  remission  of  the  voice  :  wherefore, 
language  included  in  verses  is  so  to  be  regulated,  that  its 
rhythm  may  agree  with  that  of  the  verses,  and  that  the  one 
may   not   destroy   the  other.     The  three  instruments   by 
which  this  is  effected  are  ccesura,  the  doubtful  $yUalle,  and 
prosody. 

33.  Ccesura,  or  incisure,  called  by  the  Greeks  rojui?,  is  that 


place  in  a  verse  in  which  some  order  is  ended.     Properly,  p 


B  B 


370  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

therefore,  a  verse  has  just  so  many  caesuras  as  it  has  orders, 
except  that  the  end  of  the  last  order,  which  is  at  the  same 
time  the  end  of  the  whole  verse,  cannot,  it  is  evident,  be 
called  a  caesura.  A  verse  being  expressed  in  words,  the 
caesura  signifies  the  end  of  a  rhythm  in  the  words,  coinciding 
with  the  end  of  a  metrical  order ;  and  usually  it  is  not  the 
termination  of  any  one  metrical  order  that  is  understood 
by  the  term,  but  the  termination,  by  the  end  of  a  sentence 
or  word,  of  some  one  order  whereof  the  end  deserves  parti- 
cular notice.  Now,  if  even  in  the  middle  of  a  verse  the 
rhythm  of  the  words  ought  to  end  together  with  the  metri- 
cal rhythm,  it  is  evident,  that  the  observation  of  the  same 
rule  is  still  more  requisite  at  the  conclusion  of  a  whole  verse  ; 
it  is  fit,  therefore,  that  a  verse  should  end  in  a  whole  word. 

34.  In  addition  to  this  there  is  yet  another  way  of  marking 
the  caesura,  viz. :  by  the  termination  of  a  sentence  or  clause  : 
this  results  from  pronunciation  marking  not  only   single 
words,  but  also  assemblages  of  connected  words ;  thus  in  the 
line, 

TCovTdt)  juev  TO.  TTjOwTtt  KopvdfftTtti,  avTap  ETTttro,  Horn, 
the  place  of  the  caesura  is  marked  by  the  pause  which  takes 
place  after  the  verb. 

35.  Hermann  regards  the  elision  of  a  syllable  as  inter- 
fering neither  in  Greek  nor  Latin  verse  with  the  caesura, 
and  for  this  reason,  that  the  word  should  be  looked  upon  as 
terminating  with  the  syllable  that  precedes  the  elided  one. 
He,  also,  regards  the  species  denominated  by  Person  quasi- 
ccesura,  as  a  caesura  in  the  strictest  sense,  and  this  in  conse- 
quence of  the  pause  which  will  be  found  invariably  to  take  place 
in  the  cases  to  which  Porson  limits  it :  but  he  excludes  this 
elision  from  the  end  of  the  verse,  unless  in  cases  when  the 
sense  of  the  passage  sanctions  an  intimate  connexion  of  it 


THE   GRECIAN*    DBAMA.  371 

with  the  following,  that  is,  unless  there  is  an  approach  to 
the  law  of  anapaestic  verse  termed  awafyua.  He  also 
applies  the  principle  of  the  pause  to  the  verse  (1402)  of  the 
Pliiloctetes,  viz. : 

Ei  cowl  ard^wfji^v.  7O  ytvvalov  £tp»jKa»c  «roe  : 
which  Person  regarded  as  the  only  violation  of  his  canon, 
"  that  in  the  trochaic  senarius  obtained  by  taking  away  a 
cretic  from  the  beginning  of  a  catalectic  tetrameter  trochaic, 
the  penthemimeral  caesura  is  always  observed."  Hermann, 
however,  denies  that  it  is  a  violation  of  this  canon,  as  it  is 
distributed  between  two  speakers,  and  has  the  law  of  its 
orders,  or  in  other  words,  its  csesural  construction,  modified 
by  the  full  pause  that  separates  the  numbers  of  the  second 
dipodia. 

36.  The  species  of  caesura  enumerated  by  Hermann  are 
the  necessary,  unnecessary,  mutable,  immutable,  and  adsciti- 
tious. 

37.  A  necessary  caesura  is  one  which  requires  a  pause  so 
considerable,  that  it  cannot  be  neglected  without  sacrifice  of 
the  whole  rhythm :   when  this  caesura  happens  to  be  ne- 
glected, at  least  care  is  taken  that  there  may  be  some  excuse 
for  it  in  a  compound  word.     An  unnecessary  caesura  is  one 
which  may  be  neglected  without  subversion  of  the  metrical 
rhythm.     The  necessary  caesura  may  be  illustrated  by  refer- 
ence to  the  elegiac  pentameter,   in  which,  if  the  stop  be 
made  either  before  or  after  the  csesural  syllable,  the  remain- 
ing portion  of  the  verse  will  present  an  anapeestic  number, 
one  irreconcileable  with  the  preceding  part. 

38.  The  caesura  is  immutable,  when  the  orders  into  which 
it  resolves  the  verse  cannot  be  disposed  in  any  way  but  one ; 
and  mutable,  when  they  may  be  marked  out  in  more  ways 
than  one.    In  the  sapphic  verse, 


372  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 


,  the  elisions  mark  the  orders  :  these,  as  is  mani- 
fest, cannot  be  other  than  they  are,  and  therefore  is  its 
csesura  termed  immutable.  The  csesura  is  also  immutable  in 
the  elegiac  pentameter.  But  when  any  species  of  verse  is 
proposed  which  admits  of  several  dispositions  as  to  order, 
such  as  the  heroic  hexameter,  or  the  iambic  trimeter,  the 
csesura  therein  is  termed  mutable  ;  thus  we  may  terminate 
the  first  of  the  three  orders  into  which  the  senary  may  be 
resolved,  in  the  fourth  and  eighth  half-feet,  or  in  the  fifth  and 
ninth,  or  in  the  fourth  and  ninth,  or,  lastly,  in  the  fifth  and 
eighth.  It  is  clear,  that  in  the  first  of  these  instances,  the 
metrical  scansion,  and  that  relative  to  number,  coincide  ;  in 
the  second  we  have  an  instance  of  two  csesurae,  the  penthe- 
mimeral  and  the  ennemimeral  ;  in  the  third,  the  last  of  these 
alone  occurs  ;  in  the  fourth,  the  penthemimeral. 

39.  An  adscititious  csesura  is  one  which  introduces  a  new 
rhythm,  but  one  reconcileable  with  the  proper  rhythm  of 
the  verse  ;  as  in  heroic  verse,  when  the  last  syllable,  which 
is  in  thesis,  is,  by  a  monosyllable  endued  with  a  certain 
force  or  emphasis,  changed  into  arsis  :  as, 

•yeuav  6juou  teal  TTOVTOV'  opwptt  §'  ovpavoOtv  vv%.     Horn. 

Sternitur,  exanitnisque  tremens  procumbit  Jtumi  bos.  Virg. 

Parturiunt  monies,  nascetur  ridiculus  mm.     Hor. 

Another  kind  of  adscititious  caesura  is  that,  by  which  a 
section  or  division  being  made,  either  a  little  before  the 
close  of  a  verse,  or  a  little  after  the  beginning  of  a  following 
verse,  the  remaining  part  of  the  first  verse  in  the  one  case 
is  made  continuous  with  the  following  verse,  and  the  initial 
part  of  the  following  verse,  in  the  other  case,  with  the  fore- 
going verse  ;  as  may  be  seen  in  GEd.  E.  29,  and  (Ed.  Col. 
1164. 

40.  The  second  instrument  by  which  the  rhythm  of  the 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  373 

words  is  adapted  to  the  rhythm  of  the  verse,  is  the  syllable 
of  doubtful  quantity.  A  doubtful  syllable,  a&ci<£o/ooe,  is 
one  whose  measure  may  be  either  long  or  short  indifferently : 
it  is  evident,  however,  that  since  with  respect  to  numbers 
no  measure  is  doubtful,  this  whole  doctrine  has  reference  to 
the  words,  of  which  at  one  time  some  long  syllable  is 
reckoned  short,  at  another  some  short  syllable  long ;  these 
syllables  had,  therefore,  a  two  fold  quantity,  absolute  and 
relative,  the  last  of  which  was  determined  by  the  number  of 
the  verse,  and  was  wholly  independent  of  the  first.  This 
substitution  of  short  syllables  for  long,  or  conversely,  can  be 
effected  in  those  places  only  of  the  numbers,  in  which  faulti- 
ness  of  measure  may  easily  escape  unobserved  :  such  places 
are  two  ;  first,  the  anacrusis  consisting  of  one  short  syllable  ; 
in  which  the  irregularity  offends  not  for  three  reasons  :  it 
is  preceded  by  nothing  with  which  it  may  be  compared,  and 
thus  in  the  absence  of  a  rule,  or  criterion,  we  are  not  offended 
at  the  substitution  of  a  long  for  a  short  syllable ;  it  consists 
not  of  a  multiplicity  of  parts,  whereof  one  might  serve  to 
define  and  regulate  the  other  ;  and,  it  is  immediately  suc- 
ceeded by  the  arsis,  which,  by  reason  of  the  ictus,  is 
wholly  dissimilar  in  its  effects  and  properties :  second,  the 
last  syllable  of  orders,  whether  it  be  arsis  or  thesis  ;  which 
being  followed  by  nothing  that  can  determine  its  length,  we 
are  not  offended  if  a  long  one  is  put  for  a  short,  or  a  short 
for  a  long,  since  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  there  should 
be  a  pause  at  the  end.  These  principles  serve  to  explain 
the  ambiguity  of  quantity  (aSm^o/x'a)  in  iambic  verses,  Doric 
epitrites,  and  tho  parts  of  asynartetes.  The  commencing 
syllable  in  the  first  of  these  is  the  anacrusis  to  the  arsis 
which  follows,  the  fifth  syllable  may  be  the  termination  of 
an  order,  and  so  also  may  the  ninth :  in  these  places,  there- 


374  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

fore,  a  long  syllable  is  admissible,  although  the  law  of  the 
number  requires  a  short ;  and  this,  in  the  instance  of  the 
senary,  is  the  common  rule  with  respect  to  the  admission  of 
the  spondee  into  the  uneven  seats.  The  irregularity  to 
which  Hermann  adverts  in  the  case  of  I)oric  epitrites,  (a 
species  of  verse  in  which  these  feet  occurred  in  connection 
with  dactylic  numbers,  and  so  called  because  adapted  to 
the  Doric  mode),  consists  in  the  admission  of  a  syllable  of 
short  quantity  into  the  end  of  the  order,  followed  by  a  dif- 
ferent number,  and  which,  by  the  regular  constitution  of 
the  foot,  should  be  long :  this  syllable  is,  as  is  manifest,  in 
thesis ;  but  the  same  rule  applies  to  the  last  syllable  of 
every  verse,  whether  it  be  in  arsis  or  in  thesis,  provided  the 
number  terminates  with  the  verse.  It  extends  also  to  the 
parts  of  asynartetes,  because  these  are  composed  of  numbers 
which  succeed  each  other  in  no  regular  series. 

41 .  With  regard  to  the  last  syllable  of  orders,  the  follow- 
ing rules  are  to  be  observed  ;  first,  the  doubtful  syllable  finds 
no  place  in  the  midst  of  a  periodic  order,  even  though  it  may 
terminate  one  of  the  minor  orders  of  which  the  periodic 
order  is  composed,  in  consequence  of  its  proceeding  in  one 
continued  number,  and  depending  on  one  arsis  alone,  viz., 
the  first :  but  at  the  conclusion  of  it,  the  pause  which  takes 
place  renders  an  ambiguity  of  measure  more  readily  admis- 
sible, as  nothing  occurs  there  to  define  it  with  accuracy. 
This  is  illustrated  in  the  cases  of  final  iambic  and  trochaic 
dipodise,  ithyphallic,  and  eupolidean  verses.  The  last  sylla- 
bles in  the  first  of  these  are  doubtful,  but  not  so  those  which 
occur  in  the  middle  of  the  order.  The  ithyphallic,  which 
consists  of  three  trochees  following  each  other  in  continued 
periodic  order,  and  is  not  in  consequence  resolvable  into 
dipodise,  has,  for  this  reason,  its  sixth,  not  its  fourth, 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA,  S75 

syllable  doubtful;  and  on  the  contrary,  the  eupolidean, 
which  exhibits  orders  composed  of  single  trochees,  admits 
this  ambiguity  of  measure  into  the  last  syllables  of  these  feet 
severally. 

42.  The  second  rule  with  regard  to  these  extreme  sylla- 
bles is,  that  certain  doubtful  syllables  are  found  only  at  the 
end  of  a  verse  ;  and  the  final  syllable  of  a  verse,  which  is  at 
the  same  time  the  final  one  of  a  word,  is  doubtful  on  all  ac- 
counts, both  the  metrical  and  the  verbal  numbers  ending 
in  it  :  some  are  found  in  the  middle  of  a  verse  also,  and 
these  either  in  the  end  only  of  a  word,  or  in  the  middle  also. 
In  the  middle  of  a  verse,  and  the  middle  of  a  word,  the  ana- 
crusis, or  last  thesis  of  trochaic  numbers,  and  the  last  thesis 
of  numbers  consisting  of  Doric  epitrites  are  doubtful.     The 
arsis  of  dactylic  orders,  and  the  spondiac   thesis   of  the 
fourth  foot  in  heroic  verse,  admit  the  doubtful  syllable  in 
the  middle  of  a  verse,  but  only  in  the  end  of  a  word  ; 

as,   tKTTtpcrai.  n/oia/uoto  TroXii/,  tv  8'  otKa§'  iKtadm. 

aiSoloe  T!  /uoi  £(rcrt,  ^(Xt  tKUpt,  Sftvoe  TE. 
and,  ry  8"  tTTt  fjilv  ropyiv  |3Xo<ri'paJ7ne  idre^avwTO.  Horn. 
The  arsis  of  dactylic  orders  does  so  both  by  virtue  of  its  own 
force,  and  on  account  of  the  conclusion  of  the  numbers 
which  are  in  the  word  itself;  the  thesis,  on  account  of  the 
very  strong  caesura  in  that  place  ;  both  the  metrical  numbers, 
and  those  of  the  word,  ending  together.  In  trochaic  num- 
bers the  arsis  does  not  admit  the  doubtful  syllable,  both 
because  it  is  weaker,  and  because  these  numbers,  which 
admit  of  many  resolutions,  would  be  embarrassed  by  it. 
Homer  has  seldom  allowed  even  the  spondiac  thesis  to  b 
doubtful  in  the  middle  of  words. 

43.  A  doubtful  syllable,  which  by  the  law  of  the  numbers 
is  to  be  reckoned  short,  cannot  be  resolved  into  two  short 


376  THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

syllables  ;  because,  when  it  is  long,  by  the  law  of  the  num- 
bers it  is  not  long,  but  is  to  be  reckoned  short :  for  it  is 
preposterous  that  a  long  syllable,  which  does  not  pass  for 
a  long  one,  should  be  equal  to  two  short  syllables. 

44.  Prosody  has  been  defined  "  Lex  et  ratio   acuendi, 
vel   deprimendi,  aut  circumflectendi  syllabas,"  and  in  this 
relation  to  accent  it  has  been  received  by  the  ancient  writers 
on  the  subject ;  thus  Quintilian  speaks  of  accentus  as  cor- 
responding to  the  Greek  7iy>o<r<uSia.     The  view  which  Her- 
mann takes  of  it  is  less  limited,   since,  regarding  it  as  the 
third  instrument   by  which  the  numbers  of  language  are 
adapted  to  metrical  numbers,  he  comprises  under  the  deno- 
mination all  the  artifices  by  which  it  effects  this  adaptation  : 
they    are,    the  convenience  of  the  metre,    accentuation    of 
words,  intension  of  the  voice,  and  punctuation. 

45.  The  convenience  of  the  metre  lies  in  elongation  and 
correction  of  syllables  on  account  of  the  metre,  hiatus,  eli- 
sion, crasis,  and  synizesis. 

46.  Among  the    Greeks  elongation  on  account    of  the 
metre  is  much  more  frequent  than  correction.      It  is  most 
used  in  heroic  verse,  and  chiefly  in  words  abounding  with 
short  syllables,  which  cannot  otherwise  be  adapted  to  the 
metre.     For  the  most  part  it  is  only  the  first  syllable  of 
these  words  that  is  made  long,  and  that,  too,  in  the  metrical 
arsis,  both  by  the  force  of  the  metrical  arsis  itself,  and  be- 
cause the  beginning  of  a  word  has  an  arsis  of  the  numbers 
which  are  in  the  word  itself.     Such  are  the  words  tir'iTovoc, 
cnrovttaOai,  aOavaTog,  which  last  word  has  thence  acquired 
among  the  Attics  a  regular  and  legitimate  elongation  of  the 
first  syllable.     So  in  compound  words,  too,  not  any  syllable, 
but  either  the  first  of  a  posterior  word,   as  in  iZaTrovttaOat, 
or  the  last  of  an  anterior  one,  is  made  long  in  a  metrical 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  377 

arsis,  the  conclusion  of  the  numbers  which  are  in  the  word, 
and  the  force  of  the  metrical  arsis,  assisting  the  elongation, 
as  Iliad  T.  35,  Odyss.  K.  169.  Although  in  these  examples, 
perhaps  the  digamma,  or  the  duplication  of  the  liquid  letter, 
much  in  use  among  epic  poets,  contributed  somewhat  to  the 
facility  of  the  elongation. 

We  have  seen  that  Dunbar  extends  this  doctrine  of  the 
arsis,  not  confining  it  to  first  syllables  of  words,  or  to 
compound  words,  but  extending  it  to  the  dactylic  ictuations 
wherever  they  may  be  found. 

This  production  of  syllables  "  ob  commoditatem  metri,"1 
Hermann  extends  to  the  tragic  metres,  limiting  it,  however, 
to  proper  names.  He  arranges  the  elongations  which  are 
due  to  the  force  of  the  consonants  under  four  heads,  viz.  : 
the  doubling  of  liquids  ;  the  cases  in  which  a  mute  is  followed 
by  a  liquid ;  those  in  which  a  consonant  is  inserted  for  the 
purpose  of  sustaining  the  short  vowel ;  and  those  in  which 
the  sustaining  power  is  exerted  by  the  letter  p.  The  first 
two  were  practised  by  the  older  epic  poets,  and  from  them 
the  second  passed  to  the  writers  of  iambics :  the  third  ac- 
counts for  such  forms  as  vtuvujuvoe,  oTraXa/^voc,  &c. :  the 
fourth  has  been  given  by  Dnwes  as  his  third  canon.  Dawes 
grounded  this  canon  on  the  facility  with  which  the  letter  p 
admitted  of  the  pronunciation  of  the  digamma  before  it  : 
this  accompaniment  he  conceives  to  have  invariably  taken 
place  in  certain  words,  and  to  have  originated  the  long 
quantity  in  the  preceding  short  vowel,  which  metrical 
writers  usually  explain  by  the  doubling  the  p  ;  thus  franco 
is  derived  from  ^/J<T<TW.  &c. 

47.  Corrections  are,  for  the  most  part,  owing  to  necessity, 
both  in  proper  names  which  could  not  otherwise  enter  the 
metre,  as  ""ABtvaOev,  or  in  a  syllable  preceding  a  proper 


378  THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

name,  as  ot  Se  ZaitvvOov,  and  in  other  necessary  words,  as 
before  enctVapvov,  or  they  are  made  by  the  extrusion  of  a 
letter,  as  in  TVTTOVOV,  or  by  some  peculiarity  of  dialect,  as 
in  the  word  IcrXbg  in  the  Doric,  or  lastly,  before  two  conso- 
nants also  less  favorable  to  correption,  as  before  |3X,  y\,  JJLV. 

48.  Two  kinds  of  recitation  were  used  by  the  Latins ; 
the  one  guided  chiefly  by  the  accents  of  words,  and  the 
ordinary  pronunciation,  which  kind  was  employed,  by  the 
ancient  actors ;   the  other  formed  upon  the  Greek  model, 
having  been  introduced  first  by  Ennius  into  epic  poetry, 
afterwards  in  the  Augustan  age  into  almost  every  sort  of 
poetry.     The  former  theatrical  recitation  abounds  with  cor- 
reptions,  and  pays  no  regard  to  position,  whence  ille,  atque, 
juventutis,   and  a  great  many  other  words  are  pronounced 
with  vowels  shortened  before  two  consonants.     They  even 
shorten  long  vowels,  when  the  last  is  elided,  as,  cdncede  line, 
secede  hue. 

49.  The  concurrence  of  vowels  or  diphthongs,  one  of  which 
ends,  and  the  other  begins,  two  consecutive  words,  each  re- 
taining its  proper  force  in  pronunciation,  is  termed  hiatus. 
The  laws  which  regulate  the  use  of  the  hiatus,  are,  accord- 
ing to  Hermann,  the  following : 

1.  The  lyric  poets,  whenever  they  introduced  it  into  tro- 
chaic numbers,  caused  it  in  most  instances  to  fall  upon  the 
arsis,  and  on  a  long  syllable.  When  they  admitted  it  in 
the  thesis,  they  placed  it  at  the  end  of  a  number,  in  order 
that  the  least  possible  violation  of  the  rhythm  should  take 
place ;  this  was  effected  by  means  of  the  pause.  2.  The 
writers  of  iambics  (such  as  Archilochus)  admitted  it  but 
seldom,  and  when  they  did,  caused  it  to  fall  upon  the  arsis. 
In  the  trochaic  thesis,  it  was  requisite,  in  order  to  its  admis- 
sion, that  the  vowel  on  which  it  fell  should  be  incapable  of 


THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA,  379 

elision.  3.  The  tragic  writers  observed  the  first  of  these 
laws,  but  selected  for  the  purpose  vowels  of  sufficient  length, 
and  diphthongs  ;  and  in  particular  cases,  such  as  resolutions 
of  the  trochaic  numbers,  used  it  in  a  short  syllable  in  thesis, 
the  reason  of  which  is  stated  by  Hermann  to  be  the  approx- 
imation of  those  numbers  to  the  dactylic.  4.  In  dactylic 
and  anapaestic  metres,  and  in  the  nielic  parts  of  their 
dramas  more  particularly,  the  tragic  poets  admitted  the 
hiatus  on  a  long  vowel  or  diphthong  when  shortened.  This 
license  Hermann  extends  to  cases  of  production  in  arsis, 
and  it  occurs  in  the  anapsestic,  more  especially  if  there  be 
a  change  of  person.  This  is  an  extension  of  Person's  rule, 
"  Sicubi  hiatum  tragic!  relinquunt,  turn  vocalem  vel  diph- 
thongum  necessario  corripiunt." 

50.  The  tragic  writers  never  use  TJ,  or  on,   before  words 
beginning  with  a  vowel  or  diphthong  ;  nor  do  they  use  irtpi  in 
trimeter  iambic  or  trochaic  verses,  or  in  legitimate  ana- 
psestic  systems,  before  a  vowel,  whether  in  the  same  or  in 
different  words.     In  the  melic  systems  they  admit  it,  in 
some  few  instances,  in  composition  with  an  adjective  or  an 
adverb,  but  never  with  a  verb  or  a  substantive  ;  and  should 
a  case  at  any  time  occur,  in  which  it  was  necessary  to  use 
7T6/H  in  connexion  with  a  pure  word,  they  guarded  against 
the  hiatus,  by  interposing  one  or  more  words  between  the 
compounds,  by  tmesis.     This  canon  does  not  extend  to  the 
comic  writers,  or  to  the  satyric  dramas. 

51.  On  the  subject  of  elision  the  following  rules  are  laid 
down  : 

1.  The  terminating  t  of  the  dative  singular  and  plural  of 
the  third  declension  is  never  elided  by  the  Attics,  though 
other  poets  have  departed  from  their  practice.  2.  The  t  of 
is  never  elided,  excepting  by  the  ^Eolic,  or  the  JEolo- 


380  THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

Doric  writers.  3.  Elision  never  takes  place  in  the  termi- 
nating vowel  o  of  the  Ionic  and  Doric  forms  of  the  genitive 
singular,  in  the  first  and  second  declensions  respectively. 
4.  As  regards  diphthongs,  the  tragic  writers  used  occasionally 
either  synizesis,  or  elision,  in  case  of  a  long  vowel  or  a  diph- 
thong following,  with  which  a  convenient  synizesis  might  be 
formed.  In  the  particular  instance  of  otjuot,  the  diphthong 
is  elided  only  in  case  of  tu  following.  Erfurdt  maintains 
that  the  tragic  writers  never  admitted  of  the  elision  of 
diphthongs ;  in  the  case  of  the  comic  writers,  the  diphthong 
at,  when  short,  is  elided  in  the  first  and  third  persons  of 
verbs,  and  in  the  infinitive  moods.  The  epic  writers  follow 
the  same  rule,  but  in  the  latter  case  more  rarely.  The  lyric 
poets  follow  their  example.  The  later  tragedy  objects  not 
to  the  elision  of  at.  With  respect  to  diphthongs  in  general 
it  may  be  stated,  that  the  Attic  poets  never  tolerated  their 
elision  before  a  short  vowel. 

52.  Crasis  is  that  particular  species  of  contraction  that 
takes  place  when  a  word  ending  with  a  diphthong,  or  a  vowel, 
coalesces  with  the  following  one  that  begins  in  a  similar 
manner,  as,  KOTO  for  KCU  ara.  Properly  speaking,  there  are 
three  distinct  operations  to  be  considered  in  effecting  such 
unions,  viz. :  crasis,  thlipsis,  and  synseresis,  all  of  which  may 
be  exemplified  from  the  example  given.  The  crasis  forms 
of  the  two  vowels,  a  and  e,  one,  viz.  a.  The  thlipsis  ex- 
cludes the  t  of  KOI  ;  and  the  synseresis  forms  the  improper 
diphthong  with  a  and  the  second  t,  viz.  of  iira.  Crasis  is 
used  by  Attic  writers  more  than  any  others,  but  only  in 
associations  of  certain  words  ;  for  a  crasis  is  made  by  those 
or  nearly  those  words  only,  which  coalesce  in  the  sense 
also,  as  one  notion  or  idea.  Whence  the  most  frequent 
crasis  is  in  the  article  and  noun,  as,  'avrjp,  oiyioj,  rovpyov ; 


THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA.  381 

also  in  some  particles,  as  Tai>,ra,oa,forToiav,  rolapa.  It  is  more 
unusual  in  a  pronoun  and  verb,  as,  a"x&>,  for  a  Ixw-  I*  *s 
found  also  in  a  verb  and  pronoun,  as,  •y£i/rj<Tojuaya>,  for  761/7)- 
ffofjiat  lyw,  which,  although  it  occurs  in  Iphig.  Aul.  ]  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  Trtpio^o/jiaTrtXQovTa.  Further  it  is  to 
be  understood  in  general,  that  the  long  vowels  a,  TJ,  w, 
easily  dissolve  in  crasis  with  a  short  initial  one,  which  is 
almost  only  E  ;  as  does  the  diphthong  ou,  which  appears  to 
be  nothing  but  a  succedaneum  for  a  vowel  which  wanted  a 
proper  character  among  the  Greeks.  But  the  same  con- 
traction is  not  made  in  those  also  which  are  properly 
diphthongs,  except  in  those  futures,  as,  yivqao/jiayat.  But 
icai  makes  a  crasis  with  all  vowels  and  diphthongs ;  seldomer, 
however,  with  i.  And  Person  has  observed,  that  it  is  not 
united  by  crasis  with  act,  or  with  tv.  except  in  compound 
words. 

53.  fiyniztsis  or  synecph&nesis  consists  in  the  pronuncia- 
tion of  two  vowels  together,  but  not  so  as  to  unite  them  in 
a  diphthong  ;  it  thus  differs  from  crasis  in  its  effecting  unions 
of  syllables  without  contraction,  as  StvS/of'cu,  which  in  Homer 
becomes  a  word  of  two  syllables.  Porson  denied  the  existence 
of  this  figure  in  any  case  excepting  that  of  the  vowel  f,  and 
even  then,  its  generality.  Hermann  labours  to  prove,  that 
its  operation  extends  to  other  vowels  besides  c,  though  he 
acknowledges  that  it  occurs  most  frequently  in  that  letter, 
in  consequence  of  the  rapidity  with  which  it  is  pronounced. 
He  asserts  that  the  synecphonesis  of  T)  ou,  JUT)  ou,  /u?)  wpauriv, 
JUT)  ctSlvtu,  and  tirti  ou,  is  usual  and  established  among  the 
Attics.  He  also  asserts  from  J3schylus  the  synizesis  of  a 
and  i ;  from  Homer  that  of  u  with  f ,  o,  and  w  ;  from  Sopho- 


382 

cles  that  of  v  with  01 ;  from  ^Eschylus,  Sophocles,  and  Eu- 
ripides, that  of  i  with  a,  as  also  with  other  vowels,  when  it 
terminates  the  dative  singular  of  the  third  declension. 

54.  Accent  is  defined  to  be  the  arsis  of  the  number  which 
is  peculiar  to  words  themselves,  and  since  a  syllable  may  be 
produced  if  placed  in  ictu,  that  is,  in  a  mutable  arsis,  the 
production  may  certainly  also  take  place  in  that  which  is 
subject  to  no  change.     The  seat  of  this  production  varies, 
therefore,  according  to  that  of  the  accent,  viz.  :  from  the 
last  syllable  to  the  antepenultimate.     In  final  syllables  the 
production  takes  place  as  in  csesurse,  at  least  with  but  few 
exceptions,  as,  II.  £,  358.     In  penults,  if  the  last  syllable 
be  long,  the  accentuated  one  is  in  thesis,  as  in  II.  (,  73  ;  but 
if  short,  the  production  is  as  frequently  to  be  attributed  to 
the  power  of  the  ictus,  the  diganinia,  or  the  duplication  of 
the  consonant,  as  to  the  accent.     In  antepenults,  if  the  pe- 
nult be  short,  the  syllable  is  placed  in  ictu,  and  if  long,  it 
becomes  thetic,  and  in  most  instances  closes  an  order  of  the 
verse.     The  examples  of  the  correption  of  syllables  brought 
forward  by  Hermann,  are  as  follow : 

1 .  Oxytones  of  three  syllables,  such  as  ETTEIJ/,  in  which  the 
correption  takes  place  in  consequence  of  the  closing  accent. 

2.  Such    words   as   jSouXtrat,    a-ye/jOojuEv,    for    jSouArjrcu, 
oyf/pwjUEv,  in  which  he  conceives  it  to  be  due  to  the  accent 
which  goes  before. 

3.  Those  words  in  which  the  final  syllable  is  shortened  in 
consequence  of  the  word  being  paroxytone,  as,  t'we,  in  II.  a, 
193. 

55.  In  the  commencement  of  speech,  and  when  we  wish 
to  speak  with  significancy,  we  are  accustomed  to  raise  the 
voice  ;  hence  in  the  first  arsis  of  an  heroic  verse,  the  inten- 
sion of  the  wico  has  sometimes  the  effect  of  lengthening  a 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  383 

short  syllable  ;  as  in  II.  S,  155.  E,  359.  x,  379.  ^,  2.  On  a 
similar  principle  an  elongation  is  made  in  proper  names  of 
weight  or  importance:  JEsch.  S.  ad  Th.  494.  553. 

56.  Punctuation,  as  has  been  observed  in  chap.  6,  some- 
times lengthens  short  final  syllables. 

57.  Simple  metres  are  those  which  proceed  in  one  kind  of 
numbers.     And  since  all  numbers  are  contained  either  in 
arsis  alone,  or  have  a  thesis  of  times  either  e<jual  in  measure 
to  the  arsis,  or  less,  it  appears  that  there  are  three  kinds 
of  numbers  ;   the  first  of  arsis  alone  ;  the  second  of  equal 
tii/ies,   which  are  pyrrhichiac  numbers,  tribrachic,  proceleus-- 
inatic,  spondiac,  molossic ;  the  third  of  unequal  times,  which 
are  trochaic  numbers,  dactylic,  paeonic  :    which   have   so 
much  variety  and  sweetness,  that  they  are  of  all  numbers 
the  most  in  use. 

58.  Bare  arsis  is  seldom  employed  ;  and  indeed  a  metre 
composed  of  nothing  but  arsis,  would  be  inelegant  and  harsh. 
Yet  something  of  the  kind  is  found  in  a  base.     So  we  call  a 
rhythm  composed  of  a  double  arsis,   which  is  used  in  the 
commencement  of  certain  numbers  beginning  with  an  arsis, 
as  some  dactylic,   choriambic,  and  logaoedic  numbers.     It 
may  thus  be  explained  why  the  base  is  always  found  before 
an  arsis,  and  never  before  an  anacrusis.     Those  who  take  a 
standing  leap,  with  their  feet  joined,  to  clear  a  rope,   first 
jump  twice  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  their  force,  and 
then  make  the  main  leap  :  the  base  resembles  those  two  pre- 
paratory jumps  ;  the  arsis,  the  main  leap.     Now  let  a  per- 
son, after  so  jumping  twice,   step  with  one  foot  to  take  a 
spring,  and  then  endeavour  to  make  the  main  leap  by  the 
impulse  of  the  other  foot  against  the  ground :  he  will  im- 
mediately perceive,  that  by  the  step  so  made  to  take  a 
spring,  (which  step  represents  the  anacrusis)  he  has  lost  all 


384?  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

the  force  before  gained  by  the  double  jump,    and  thus  has 
frustrated  the  design  of  it. 

That  a  base  consists  of  a  double  arsis  is  known  from  this 
circumstance,  that  both  syllables  have  an  uncertain  mea- 
sure ;  for  if  only  one  of  the  two  had  an  arsis,  there  ought, 
according  to  the  law  of  numbers,  to  be  a  certain  relative 
proportion  of  measures  :  but  if  both  are  in  arsis,  they  are 
both  legitimately  doubtful,  because  each  of  the  two  is  at 
once  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  the  numbers ;  whence 
all  disyllabic  feet  are  admitted  indiscriminately  ;  viz.  : 
i,i, ;  1 .1 ;  ^,1 ;  -i, ;  at  least  by  the  ^Eolic  lyric  poets,  as 
Sappho,  <foc.  But  the  lyric  poetry  of  the  Dorians,  which 
tragedy  and  comedy  follow,  excluded  the  pyrrhic  ;  as  they, 
therefore,  chose  to  have  the  one  or  the  other  arsis  necessa- 
rily long,  this  long  arsis  might  consentaneously  be  resolved 
into  two  short ;  hence  there  is  place  also  for  an  anapaest,  a 
dactyl,  and  a  tribrach,  though  these  feet  are  seldom  used. 

59.  Numbers   occur,    though  rarely,    composed  of  only 
short,  QT:  only  long  times  ;   chiefly  of  short.     But  such  num- 
bers, at  least  most  of  them,  appear  to  have  arisen  from 
resolutions  or    contractions   of    numbers  having  unequal 
times  ;  so  that  no  certain  forms  of  them  can  be  constituted, 
which  are  not  identical  with  such  as  are  comprehended  in 
numbers  of  unequal  times.     In  these  numbers  a  suitable 
pronunciation  must  be  attended  to  ;  from  which  it  is  for  the 
most  part  easily  collected,  whether  they  belong  to  trochees, 
or  iambics,   or  anapaests,   or  dochmiacs,  in  which  kind  the 
resolution  of  all  long  syllables  is  extremely  common.     Spon- 
diac  numbers  commonly  belong  to  anapaests  ;   the  molossic 
are  not  used,  although  mentioned  by  Marius  Victorinus. 

60.  Numbers  of  unequal  times  are  trochaic,  dactylic,  and 
pseonic.    Of  each  there  are/w  species,  viz, : 


THE   GRECIAN*    DRAMA. 


385 


Trochaic  numbers. 

'-^     Trochaic. 
j-       Iambic. 
-*  -        Cretic. 
— w      Antispastic. 
Bacchiac. 

Dactylic  numbers. 

vvy-ww     Dactylic, 
-vw-         Anapaestic, 
-vw-          Choriambic. 
•  -w         Ionic  a  majore. 
Ionic  a  minore. 

Paeonic  numbers. 

First  paeons. 
Fourth  paeons. 
Strophi. 
Dasii. 
Symplecti. 

61.  Metres  which  are  not  simple  are  divided  into  mixed 
and  compound.  The  mixed  are  those  which  consist  of  differ- 
ent numbers  blended  and  mingled  together ;  the  compound, 
those  in  which  several  numbers  are  joined  in  such  a  manner 
that  one  follows  another  separately.  Mixture  is  twofold. 
1 .  Several  numbers  or  rhythms  change  their  turns,  so  that 
one  is  put  for  another ;  of  which,  although  each  is  of  itself 
simple,  yet  the  numbers  formed  of  both,  because  they  are 
neither  the  one  nor  the  other,  but  a  sort  of  changeable 
numbers,  comprehending  both,  cannot  be  ranked  either  with 
the  simple  or  the  compound.  These  are  the  polyschematisti 
or  anomalous.  2.  The  other  mode  of  mixture  is,  when  dif- 
ferent numbers  cohere  in  one  order,  which  numbers,  if  the 
stronger  precede  the  weaker,  are  called  diminished;  if  the 
weaker  precede  the  stronger,  concrete,  CQinpositim  also  is 

c  c 


SSG  THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

two-fold  ;  for  it  is  effected  either  by  coherence,  called  by  the 
Greeks  awafeia,  which  allows  of  nothing  in  the  commissure 
of  two  parts  which  may  break  the  continuity  of  language  ; 
or  without  any  lond  of  connexion,  iii  which  case  Jthe  verses 
are  asynartete,  wherein  language  may  be  either  continued 
or  interrupted. 

These  various  species  have  been  already  considered. 

62.  It  may,  however,  be  well  to  give  more  fully  Her- 
mann's reasons  for  considering  trochaic  and  iambic  verse  to 
be  identical. 

1.  The   variety  which  is   admitted  into  trochaic  verse, 
viz.  of  spondees  in  the  even  places,  and  into  iambic,  of  the 
same  feet  in  the  odd,  may  be  accounted  for  on  the  same 
principle,  whether  the  iambic  verse  be  resolved  into  iambic 
dipodise,  or,  by  considering  the  first  syllable  an  anacrusis, 
into  trochaic.     For  it  has  been  already  laid  down  as  a 
principle,  that,   in  a  periodic  order,  only  the  monosyllable 
anacrusis  and  the  end  of  the  order  can  admit  of  the  doubt- 
ful syllable.     But  on  comparing  these  orders  in  the  trochaic 
trimeter  and  the  iambic,  each  being  resolved  into  their  own 
dipodise,  it  will  appear  that  the  end  of  each  order  in  the 
former  will  occupy  the  same  place  with  an  anacrusis  in  the 
latter  ;  and  on  comparing  a  trochaic  similarly  resolved,  with 
an  iambic  divided  into  trochaic  orders,  the  termination  of 
the  orders  will  be  found  to  be  coincident,  and  consequently 
so  will  the  places  of  the  adiaphorous  syllables.     The  .reason- 
ing here,  therefore,  amounts  to  this,  that  the  variety  in  the 
measure  can  be  satisfactorily  accounted  for  on  a  common, 
or  air  analogous  principle,  supposing  the  two  numbers,  iam- 
bic and  trochaic,  to  be  essentially  the  same. 

2.  The  next  argument  in  confirmation  of  this  doctrine  is 
founded  4on  an  objection  which  is  brought  against  it,  viz. : 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA,  387 

that  the  characteristics  of  the  numbers  differ  from  each 
other — that  a  greater  latitude  is  allowed  in  the  iambic  than 
in  the  trochaic  measure.  In  order  to  meet  this,  Hermann 
adduces  the  fact,  that  the  trimeters  of  the  comic  writers 
have  less  restrictions  imposed  upon  them  than  those  of  the 
tragic  ;  and  this  he  ascribes  to  the  latter  being  most  gene- 
rally resolved  into  orders  that  exhibit  a  more  completely 
developed  trochaic  number  than  the  former,  the  orders  of 
which  most  usually  correspond  with  the  dipodise.  Now  it 
was  necessary  to  preserve  a  greater  degree  of  equality  in 
the  trochaic  measure  for  the  three  following  reasons :  there 
is  a  recurrence  of  the  same  order  in  each  dipodia ;  there  is 
no  anacrusis  to  enhance  the  force  of  the  number  ;  and,  the 
orders  terminate  in  thesi,  which  is  less  marked  than  when 
the  arsis  defines  the  terminating  point,  as  is  the  case  in  iam- 
bic verse.  But  in  the  latter,  not  only  are  there  present 
both  an  anacrusis  to  mark  the  commencement  of  the  Order, 
and  an  arsis  to  mark  its  termination,  but  the  trochaic  num- 
ber is  only  once  exhibited  in  each  order.  The  greater 
license,  therefore,  in  iambic  verse  is  to  be  explained,  not  by 
any  intrinsic  difference  existing  between  the  numbers,  but 
by  the  presence  of  conditions  which  are  referrible  to  the 
measure  alone,  and  the  less  frequent  iteration  of  the  num- 
ber which  was  subjected  to  the  greatest  restrictions. 

This  argument  he  regards  as  acquiring  force  from  the 
circumstance,  that  certain  licenses,  which  should  be  ad- 
mitted into  iambic  verse  according  to  the  principles  of  the 
metrical  writers,  are  not  allowable  in  consequence  of  their 
repugnance  to  the  trochaic  number  ;  and  on  the  other  hand, 
some  which  suit  this  latter  are  introduced  into  the  former, 
though  at  variance  with  those  principles.  In  proof  of  this 
he  adduces  the  anapeest.  and  the  proceleusmatic.  The 


S88  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

former  has  been  admitted  into  the  first  seat  of  the  senary 
by  the  tragic  writers,  and  this  license  the  comic  have  ex- 
tended to  all  seats  but  the  last.  Now,  according  to  the 
system  of  scansion  by  feet  it  will  appear,  that  the  anapaest 
may  succeed  either  the  dactyl  or  the  tribrach  in  a  trimeter, 
which  is  contrary  to  the  canon  laid  down  by  Dawes  ;  but  by 
scanning  the  verse  trochaically  it  will  be  at  once  perceived, 
that  the  conjunction  here  mentioned,  and  which  might  be 
allowed  according  to  the  principles  of  the  grammatical 
writers,  would  involve  the  substitution  of  a  proceleusmatic 
ictuated  on  the  first  syllable  for  a  trochee,  which  never  can 
be  done. 

Another  principle  of  the  grammarians  was,  that  the  pro- 
celeusmatic could  not  be  substituted  for  the  iambus.  But 
here  again  let  us  have  recourse  to  the  trochaic  scansion, 
and  place  the  ictus  on  the  third  syllable  of  the  proceleusma- 
tic foot :  we  effect  in  this  way  a  substitution  of  a  tribrach 
ictuated  on  its  first  syllable  for  a  trochee,  which  is  quite 
legitimate,  and  in  accordance  with  the  practice  of  the  Latin 
poets,  with  whom  the  introduction  of  the  proceleusmatic 
for  the  iambus  was  very  frequent. 

These  are  the  chief  reasons  assigned  by  Hermann  in  proof 
of  the  number  of  the  iambic  verse  being  trochaic,  and  which 
he  owns  his  having  adopted  from  Bentley.  It  may  be  re- 
marked, that  Person  seems  to  proceed  in  a  similar  way, 
forming  the  trimeter  from  the  trochaic  tetrameter,  by  sub- 
tracting the  cretic  foot  or  pseon  from  its  commencement : 
but  this  is  merely  for  the  convenience  it  offered  of  stating 
certain  laws  of  this  species  of  trochaic  metre,  with  reference 
to  those  which  he  had  established  before  with  respect  to  the 
senary. 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  389 


SECTION  II. 


PORSON  S  PREFACE  TO  THE  HECUBA,  AND  SUPPLEMENT,  WITH 
HERMANN'S  OBSERVATIONS  THEREON. 


1.  PORSON'S  preface  to  the  Hecuba,  and  the  supplement 
which  was  published  some  years  after  the  preface,  may  be 
said  to  have  marked  an  era  in  Greek  criticism,  by  the  satis- 
factory elucidation  they  afforded  of  certain  points  relating 
to  grammar  and  versification,  which  were  before  involved  in 
much  uncertainty.  The  principal  opponents  of  Person's 
views  were  Wakefield  and  Hermann. 

The  canons  which  Person  lays  down  relating  to  grammar 
and  orthography  are  the  following  : 

(1 .)  The  subscribed  iota  is  to  be  rejected  in  all  the  cases 
in  which  teal  forms  a  crasis  with  words  beginning  -with  a 
vowel,  and  retained  only  in  .those  in  which  the  crasis  is 
formed  with  words  beginning  with  a  diphthong  having  an 
iota  as  its  second  vowel,  as  KUTL  for  KCU  tn,  Kara  for  KOI  tlra. 

(2.)  The  words  am,  aieroe,  itAai'w,  KQIW,  are  to  be  writ- 
ten with  the  simple  vowel,  thus,  act,  aero^,  i&rc. ;  and  that 
vowel  is  common.  •• 

(3.)  Brunck's  rule  respecting  the  second  person  of  the 
future  indicative  of  the  passive  voice,  viz.  :  of  terminating  it 
in  ji,  not  in  r?,  is  extended  to  the  second  person  of  the  pre- 
sent. 

(4.)  The  augment  is  never  omitted  in  Attic  Greek. 

2.  With  regard  to  the  first  canon,  he  observes,  that  the 
more  ancient  manuscripts,  viz. :  those  written  "before  the 


390  THE   GRECIAN  DRAMA. 

close  of  the  thirteenth  century,  agree  in  rejecting  the  sub- 
scribed iota  from  the  above  mentioned  class  of  compounds  ; 
and  the  argument  acquires  force  from  this  circumstance, 
that  though  there  were  two  sects  of  grammarians,  of  which 
the  one  added  it  to  datives  and  infinitives,  as  juoujijt,  Spcuv, 
and  the  other  did  noty  yet  both  agreed  in  the  omission  men- 
tioned in  the  canon. 

3.  In  defence  of  the  second  canon,  he  cites  the  instances 
of  iw/xat,  larjooc,  Ai'av,  &c.,  in  which  the  initial  vowel  is  com- 
mon. He  says  that  Valckenaer  is  mistaken  when  he  says, 
that  all  the  places  of  Euripides,  in  which  the  first  syllable  of 
\iav  is  long,  admit  of  easy  emendation  ;  and  in  proof  of  this 
cites  a  correction  of  Valckenaer's,  which  introduces  re  as 
the  second  syllable  of  a  tribrach,  whereas,  as  has  been 
stated,  TC  and  ye  can  never  stand  as  the  second  syllable  of  a 
trisyllabic  foot,  in  a  senarius,  nor  as  the  first  syllable  of  a 
trisyllabic  foot  in  trochaic  metre. 

Hermann  differs  from  Person,  and  founds  his  opinion 
respecting  the  use  of  mo.  by  the  Attics,  partly  on  the  insuf- 
ficiency of  the  passage  cited  by  Pierson  from  Eustathius  to 
prove  the  possibility  of  lengthening  the  first  syllable  of  dti, 
and  partly  on  positive  argument.  He  denies  that  the  quan- 
tity of  this  syllable  entered  at  all  into  the  contemplation  of 
Eustathius,  and  asserts,  that  he  was  concerned  with  any 
thing  else  but  proving  that  the  iota  was  omitted  by  the 
Athenians  in  this,  as  well  as  in'  other  words  enumerated 
with  it.  His  positive  arguments  are  as  follow  :  first,  it  is 
certain  that  the  Attics  used  TTOW  for  Trotw  :  but  the  tragic 
writers  always  produced  its  first  syllable,  and  as  they  could 
not  write  TTWW,  they  expressed  it  with  the  diphthong,  viz. : 
7r6(w.  He  draws  the  same  inference  with  respect  to  old 
from  analogy.  Secondly,  he  cites  a  passage  from  an  etyino- 


THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA 


S91 


logus  quoted  by  Kcenius  on  Gregorius,  (de  dialectis),  in 
which  express  mention  is  made  of  the  correption  of  the  first 
syllable  of  aa,  and  which  he  maintains  would  not  have  found 
place  in  the  enumeration,  had  it  been  possible  for  it  to  be 
doubtful.  To  this,  however,  Porsou  replies  in  his  Supple- 
ment, by  restoring  what  he  conceives  to  have  been  the  true 
reading  of  the  passage  in  question,  viz. ;  e KTZ ra^ivov.  Her- 
mann quotes  it  ovvt<rra\fjLivov . 

4.  Porson  defends  the  third  canon  on  the  ground  of  ana- 
logy, which  requires  the  short  vowel  in  the  indicative,  and 
the  long  in  the  subjunctive,  the  penults  of  the  first  and  third 
persons  being  short  in  the  former  case,  and  long  in  the 
latter.  To  the  canon  itself  Hermann  advances  no  objection, 
but  only  to  the  argument  by  which  it  is  supported.  Instead 
of.  being  required  by  analogy,  he  looks  on  it  as  not  repugnant 
thereto;  arguing  thus:  if  ru-ry,  which  is  derived  from  TUTT- 
reat,  be  changed  into  Tinrrti,  the  alteration  does  not  de- 
prive the  indicative  of  a  vowel  which  is  peculiar  to  it :  but 
if  Ti/;rry.  the  derivative  of  TUTTTJICU,  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. 

o.  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  JJacchce  of  Euripides,  the  text  of  which  is  in  a  most 


392 


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  £XP*>V  on  ^he 
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  avwyee,  not  iivuya,  but 
resume  the  augment  in  the  pluperfect ;  similarly,  to  tcaOt- 
£OJUTJV,  ica077jurjv,  ica&vSov,  the  tragic  writers  do  not  prefix 
the  augment ;  the  comic  prefix  or  omit  indifferently.  The 
Attics  sometimes  admit  a  double  augment,  as  in  7]V£(T^oju»jv, 
ai/jjrr^o/ijjy,  both  of  which  are  in  use  in  tragic  writers. 

Hermann  thus  replies  to  Person  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  PorsoiVs  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  ^Eschylus  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,  393 

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  ^Eschylus,  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  Person's  corrections  of  two 
passages,  one  in  the  Hecuba,  (578.)  and  the  other  in  the 
Persse,  (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, 
Person  investigates  the  laics  of  iambic,  trochaic,  and  ana- 
pcestic  rerse.  The  process  by  which  he  infers  the  inadmis- 
sibility  of  an  anaprest  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  jEschylus,  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. 


.  Prom.  246.  Kcu  ju»ji/  $t'Xoie  aXecivoe  daopqv  e-yw. 
„       Agam.  664.  "H/mKov"  at  Si  Kipwrvirovfjifvai  /3i£. 
,,       Choep.  421."Eico^e  KOJUJUOV  "A/oaov,   are  Kiarriac. 

„  ,,  654.   Et7T£/3  ^tXo|tPOC  £<mv   Aiyt(T00U  /3ta. 

„      Eumen.  896.  Da^ne  oirfyww'  6i£uoe*  Sfyov  Se  au. 
„         Suppl.  800.  Iljooe  6v  vl^»)  St'  vS|0»jXa  yiyvtrai  \itov 
„     In  Plut.  de  Consol.  p.  106.  "Oairep  niyiarov  ia/ia 

7ToXXtt»V  KaKWt'. 

Soph.  Ajac.  524.  OVK  av  -ytvotro  TTO^'  oSroc  £i/7£vr/c  av»j/a 

(Ed.  T.  248.  KOKOV  KCIKMQ  viv  ap.oipov  ttcrptyai  fitov. 

Philoct.  1288.  Ilw?  uTrag  ;   OVK  apa  Sturspov  SoXoujutfl 

In  Hesych.  Toi*  air/TrXaaroi'  t^ei  vo/xov 


7.  The  principle  of  his  correction  in  the  first  example  is 
the  formation  of  adjectives  in  ctvoe  from  substantives  in  oc 
pure,  namely,  that  the  Attic  writers  never  admitted  t  before 
the  diphthong,    even   in  anapaestic  or   dactylic   measure, 
where  its  admission  would  be  very  convenient.     Thus  from 
St'oc  is  formed  SEIVOC,  from  jcXt'oe,  KXttyoe,  from  t'Xtee*  tX«- 
voc-     These  Attic  forms  have  been  changed  into  Ionic  by 
ignorant  transcribers,   who  were  acquainted  with  scarcely 
any  kind  of  metre  but  the  Homeric.     Thus  the  anapaest  is 
removed  from  the  third  place  by  the  substitution  of  tXetvoc 
for  cXtEtvoc- 

8.  The  principle  of  his  emendation  in  the  second  passage 
is,  that  compounds  of  Kfpag  do  not  admit  <u,  but  either  KE'/OOC 
is  retained  entire,  which  is  the  case  before  the  labials  ]3  and 
^  :  or  sometimes  the  last  syllable  of  the  old  genitive  Ke/ocof 
is  dropped,  sometimes  the  last  letter  of  the  old  nominative 
Ktpog.     The  Attics,   therefore,  use  KepaafioXos, 
K£/oo|3aTTjc  :  similarly,  by  the  (substitution  of 

a  tribrach  is  introduced  in  place  of  the  anapsest.    The.  same 


THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

law  of  composition  holds  good  in  the  case  of  Kpias  also,  thus 
we  always  find  K/jfoTrtuXrje,  not  K(oeaj;rwXijc,  &c.  dice. 

9.  The  third  passage  is  corrected  either  by  reading,  with 
Blomfield,  "£KO^'  "Aptiov  KOJUJUOV,  &c. ;   or,  which  connects 
the  sentence  better,  KO^JUOV  S'  IKO;//'  "Aptiov,  kc. 

10.  The  fourth  passage  is  corrected  by  the  substitution 
of  QiXoZtvq  Vni;  for  ^tXo&voe  tfTTtv.     Aldus  and  Robor- 
tellusiiad  edited  <j>i\6&v'  tartv,  but  incorrectly,  inasmuch  as 
when  elision  occurs  between  two  vowels,  of  which  the  former 
is  long,  it  must  fall  on  the  latter,  as  a  long*  vowel  cannot 
be  elided.     The  objection  to  this  correction,   viz. :   that  the 
Attics  generally  make  adjectives  of  this  kind,   (derivatives 
and  compounds,  as  ajro/3Xe7rroc)  of  the  same  form  in  the 
masculine  and  feminine,  is  answered  by  proofs  drawn  from 
Theognis,   Pindar,  and  Athenaeus,  that  the  ancients  occa- 
sionally used  the  feminine  termination. 

11.  The  anapsest  is  removed  from  the  fifth  passage  by 
rejecting  the  diaeresis  of  ol^vg,   from  which  word  the  Attics 
always  rejected  it,  as    also  from  the  two  nouns,  o<e,  oloroc, 
and  from  the  proper  names  Oi/cXfjc,  OtXcuc- 

12.  With  regard  to  the  sixth  passage,  Person  adopts  the 
reading  of  Aldus  and  Robortellus,  viz.  :  vi$r\  &  v$pij\a.     As, 
however,  the  particle  Si  occurs  in  the  preceding  line,  should 
the  repetition  of  it  be  objected  to,    he  observes  that  it  is  in 
opposition  to  what  precedes,  and  has  the  force  of  aXXa. 
The  meaning  is  :   "  would  that  my  habitation  were  fixed  in 

Hermann  extends  this  to  diphthongs,  and  thus  asserts  that  a*  «7«, 
which  frequently  commence  the  trimeter,  should  be  written  oT  'y<J.  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 
epiphoo,emata. 


396  THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

the  aether,  lut  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. : 
Il/>oe  ov  xjLwv  v$pr}\a  yiyvtrat  vt^ij. 

13.  In  the  seventh  passage,  read  jut-y*  I<TT'  tctjua,  as  Gro- 
tius  has  corrected  it ;  or,  "Oa-rrsp  jufytorovj^apjuaicov  iroXXwv 
KOKwi',  as,  probably,  the  word  t'et/ia  belongs  to  a  later  age, 
and  was  unknown  to  the  old  tragic  writers. 

14.  The  eighth  verse  maybe  corrected  by  transposition  in 
several  ways : 

OVK  av  7T00'  ouroe  £uy£v?}£  yevoir'  avfip. 

OVK  av  yivoir^  avr'jp  rroO^  ovrog  tvytvfa. 

OVK  av  yivoift1  ovrog  Tror1  euysyjjc  avi'ip. 
But  a  MS.  of  Suidas  in  the  library  of  Corpus  Christi  Col- 
lege, Oxford,  removes  every  difficulty,  by  reading,  with  the 
exception  of  OUTTW  for  own-ore,  a  common  error,  Gun-ore 
yivoir  av  ouroc  euysvT/c  avnp.  Hermann  has  produced 
from  the  Codex  Augustanus  another  reading,  viz. :  OVK  av 
•ytVoir'  £0'  ouroe  tvyivris  avfip. 

]  5.  The  ninth  passage  may  be  corrected  by  expunging, 
as  Burton  does,  the  pronominal  enclitic  vtv,  which  is  not  ne- 
cessary to  the  sense  ;  Porson,  however,  considers  the  pleo- 
nasm of  vtv,  so  elegant,  and  so  expressive  of  individuality, 
that  he  prefers  retaining  it,  and  introducing  a  tribrach  in- 
stead of  an  anapaest,  by  reading  a/iopov.  This  pleonasm  of 
viv  may  be  paralleled  with  that  of  07 1  in  Homer,  the  addi- 
tion of  which  marks  a  more  exact  individuality  than  would 
have  been  the  case  without  it ;  for  instance,  7,  409. 

16.  In  the  tenth  passage,  for  OVK  apa  read  ap"1  ou,  or 
erase  the  negative  particle  OUK.  The  former  correction  he 


TITE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  397 

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. 

17.  The  eleventh  passage  is  corrected  by  reading  vo/uov 

?x«. 

18.  The  license  of  introducing  an  anapaestic  proper  name 
into  any  seat  of  the  senary,  excepting  the  last,  is  converted 
by  Person  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  ah*  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.  Person'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 ;  1st,  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. 


398  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  verso  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  syllabi 

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  info  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  Person  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  Person's 
argument  is  grounded ;  thirdly,  in  esteeming  the  anapaest  as 
admissible  into  all  seats  of  the  trimeter,  excepting  the  last. 
Hephsestion  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  mime'rorum," 
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   GRECIAN1   DRAMA.  401 

23.  We  have  seen  that  Hermann  differs  from  Person 
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  eifect  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  '  Aimyoi/n,  'iQiyivtta  ;  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 

I>   D 


THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

tribrach  must  precede  an  anapaest;  if  either  take  place, 
according  to  Dawes1  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  antistrophe.     He  ad- 
duces examples  of  this  from  the  Hecuba,  (931.  2.  5.) 
which  are  ionic  a  inajore,    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.  Matthias 
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.  Matthise  also  disapproves  of  a  rule  of  emendation 
which  Person  especially  recommends  as  the  safest  to  adopt, 
vi/. :  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,  J;avoe,  juouvoe,  jovvara,  KOU/>OC, 
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  Person'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  anapaestic  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  anapaestic  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  S/KO  in  v.  706.  by 
?('K»],  as  the  reading  appears  in  Cod.  A.  On  the  contrary 


406  THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

he  admits  them  into  those  of  the  Trachinise,  823.  833.  sqq. 
where  the  trimeters  are  subordinate  to  the  melic  parts,  and 
form  with  them  one  system. 


CHAPTER  VIIJ. 


EXCERPT  A   CRITIC  A. 
I. 

Dams'  Ehwn  Canons:  icith  Tate's  Notes. 

1 .  "  *Av  cannot  be  joined  to  TTf/oioiSe'"     [Miscell.  Crit. 
p.  ii.  Ed.  B.  p.  ii.] 

The  particle  ai»,  giving  the  idea  of  a  contingent  or  condi- 
tional event,  goes  with  the  past  tenses  only  of  the  indicative 
mood ;  out  of  which  number  irfpiol^e  is  excluded,  as  being 
strictly  what  Clarke  calls  the  present  perfect  tense.  (Vid. 
ad  Iliad.  A.  v.  37). 

(1).  ITVTTTOV  av — /  should  hare  been  striking. 

(Sometimes  translate,  /  should  have  been  stricken). 

("2).  IriTvfytiv  av — /  should  have  done  striking. 

\  av — /  should  have  stricken. 

ITVTTOV  ) 

The  same,  mutatis  mutandis,  for  the  past  tenses  of  0i»'j<ricu>. 

2.  "  The  word  O<T<J>  and  the  like,  when  accompanied  with 
av,  are  construed  with  the  subjunctive,  not  with  the  opta- 
tive.11    [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.) 

iraaav  TJ]V 


408  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

[jitv  av  OO.TTOV   sXOoi,   roaovTitt 
Ha\ttaOai.     K.  T.  X. 

By  transposing  av,  and  by  altering  the  future 
which  does  not  keep  that  particle"^  company,  into 
Dawes  (with  the  approbation  of  Person)  has  corrected  the 
passage  thus  :  v6fnZw  av,  oyitt  fj.lv  Oarrov  t\0oi,  T.  a.  |3. 
fjiaxtaOai — K.  r.  X.  The  particle  av,  thus  posited,  refers  to 
the  two  infinitives  /j.a-%taOai  and  avvaytiptaOai,  and  gives  to 
both  a  future  force. 

(1).  The  position  of  av,  as  above,  with  verbs  of  thinking 
followed  by  an  infinitive  mood  to  which  it  refers,  is  very 
common  in  Attic  Greek ;  and  Dawes  abundantly  shows  it 
from  Xenophon. 

(2).  "Ocrtj)  and  similar  words  are  much  used  with  av  and 
the  subjunctive  mood,  it  is  true  ;  but,  according  to  circum- 
stances which  will  explain  themselves,  they  are  used  with 
the  optative,  and  with  the  indicative  also  sometimes. 

a.  Whatever  part  yo  u  shall  have  acted  towards  your  parents, 
your  children  also  will  act  towards  you  ;  and  with  good  reason. 

OtOe  7T£jO   av  TTEjOl  TOV£    yOVilQ     Jtvy,    TOIOVTOI  KOt   Ot  GaVTOV 

TraiStc  Trepi  at  ytvi'iaovrat'   etKorwc,'- 

/3.  Act  such  a  part  towards  your  parents,  as  you  could  wish 
your  own  children  to  act  towards  yourself. 

Totouroe  yiyvov  TTfpi  roi»c  yovtis,  olovf  av  tv^aio  irspi 
atavrbv  yiyvtaOai  rovg  aavrov  TratSac. 

y.  There  is  not  a  man  living  whom  he  would  have  less 
thought  of  attacking  than  him. 

OVK  tariv,  tTT1  ovTiva  av  J/TTOV,  rj  ETTI  TOUTOV,  r/XOtv. 

Of  the  two  passages  which  shall  be  given  from  Demos- 
thenes, the  first  shows  a  syntax  very  common  and  legitimate 
in  Attic  prose  ;  while  the  second  exhibits  two  instances,  the 
one  correct,  the  other,  at  least,  suspicious. 


THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA.  400 


Keu  yap  OVTOQ  inraai  rewrote,  olc  av  rtc  Jtttyav  avrov  Tjy/j- 
£aT£pav  avTi]v  [TJJV  MaKE£ovt>c>ji>  Svva/uv] 
KaT£(TK£uctK£y  jaur<j).  Olyntliiac.  A.  §.  5. 

In  the  same  section,  the  subjects  of  I  -;ysthe  orator, 

A:J-ouvrat  KC:I  <7UV£^d»c  TaXaiTrtiipovaiv,  our'  tVi  rolg  tpyoig, 

V      •>        »        \  -  »         -  !<>/  1    /  O  /O  "fl'         ff       1        * 

Owr    fTTt   rote   aurwv    icjo^c  £a»/^£rot    cia-ptpen',    ovv     oa    av 
OTTOJC  af  cuvwvrat,  raiir1  t)fOVT£C  ciaGtaOat, 


Translate  thus :  Jfo/1  able  to  dispose  of  such  articles  as  they 
may  produce,  in  the  irayt/my  might  otherwise  hare  it  in  their 
power  to  do,  on  account  of  t/te  war,  fyc.  <$>'c. 

And  to  preserve  the  Atticism,  read — oVwe  uv  ZvratvTo. 

(3).  It  is  weh1  known,  that  the  following  construction, 
suppresso  av,  is  favored  by  the  tragic  writers.  [E.  P.  ad 
Orest.  v.  141.]  "Oirov  &  'A:roAAajv  o-Kotoc  y>  ~n  EC  tro^ot; 
Electr.  Eurip.  v.  072.  Sat  this  suppression  of  av  with  tho 
optative  also  deserves  remark. 

OVK  £CTTtv,   o~(ii  /ift^ova  fjunpav 

N£I>OI/I',  T)  <7ot.     Prom.  Vinct.  vv.  200.  300. 

The  following  passages  demand  a  separate  consideration  : 
Ei1  CTOI  yap  £o/tt£v*  avCpa  o*  (i)(f>t\tiv,   a<fi  <jjv 

"E\vi  T£  k-ai  cvvaiTo,  KaAAtaroc  TTOVWV.  (Ed.  R.  vv.  314.  5. 

Efk'ij  jcpartorrov  ^»Jv,  OTTIOQ  Suvairo  ~tf.      Ibid.  v.  970. 

And  this.     AAA   ci  |3oi;A£j,   £^»rj,   <J5  7ro7r~f.  rjct'cuc  /z£ 

£Ka<rroc  ra  KpariuTa  Svvairo.     Cyroppedia. 

3.  "  The  Attic  style  requires  either  Trot  rig  ^uyy,  or 
TTOL  rig  av  <f>vyoi.  An  optative  verb  following  Trot,  TTO&V, 
TTOU,  TTWC?  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.  trot  7Y>£i//ojueu ;  whither  shall  I  betake  myself? 

/3.  Trot  T/oaTrwjuat  ;  whither  must  I  betake  myself? 

7.  Trot  TIC  av  TpcnroiTo ;  tvhither  should  one  betake  himself? 
[M.  C.  75.  341.  Ed.  B.  78.  333.] 

(1).  Under  the  class  (|3)  may  be  placed, 

'£70)  &  TI  nOIQ :  Pint.     But  ^chat  must  I  do? 

'Eyo>  o-twTrw  T^Se  y  ;  Ran.  where  jEschylus  of  Euripides, 
Must  I  hold  my  tongue  for  this  coxcomb  ? 

'Gig  oZvOvfJiog  !   0£/c>£,  ri  trot  Ail  KaraQaytiv ; 
Well,  what  must  I  give  you  to  eat  ? 

Dawes's  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  x^»)  °va  understood." 

(2).     So0W£  Kf\£W£tC'    JW*J   TjOECTTJC  jUiaO-jUOTOC 

Toi/juof;  jUETao-^fTy,  aXX'  tXevBtpwg  Oavd).  Herac.  558.  559. 

"  0avo>  is  the  subjunctive,  as  often  elsewhere.  Every 
one  knows  that  the  first  person  plural  subjunctive  often 
occurs  in  the  sense  of  our  let  us  die.  More  seldom,  and  yet 
not  very  seldom,  the  first  person  singular  is  used  in  the 
sense  of  our  let  me  die.  In  Med.  1275,  most  of  the  Edd. 
properly  give  TraptXOa}  Sojuove  without  an  interrogation." 
P.  Elmsley  ad  loc. 

In  Person's  Medea,  the  passage  stands  thus  : 
TlaptXOw  So/xouc  ;  apri^ai  <f>6vov 

AOK£l  jUOl  TEKVOtC' 

which  would  require  to  be  translated  with  somewhat  less 
force,  thus :  "  Shall  I  not  enter  the  house  ? — /  am  resolved 
to  save  the  children  from  murder" 


THE  GRECIAN*   DRAMA.  411 

4.  Kat  ju/jv  UTTOTE  Tt  (TKfvaptov  TOV  Seorirorou 
'Y^et'Xou,  £yw  <re  \avOavsiv  iiroiovv  att.     Plut.  1139. 

"  Iambics  and  trochaics  do  not  allow  of  the  hiatus  in  the 
second  verse.  Besides,  birort  v<j>£i\ov,  [  When  you  actually 
had  stolen  one  specific  thinn.~\  iiroiovv  OEI  is  a  solecism.  Read 
'Y^'Xot',  that  is.  'Y^'Xoio."  [M.  C.  216.  Ed.  B. 
215,  6.J 

Fielding  and  Young  thus  translate  the  passage  fairly 
enough : 

Why,  when  you,  used  to  filch  any  vessel  from  your  master, 
I  alicays  assisted  you  in  concealing  it.  [the  theft.] 

The  nature  of  those  circumstances  which  demand  this 
usage  of  oTrore  with  the  optative  mood,  if  not  sufficiently  clear 
from  the  instance  thus  given,  is  determined  by  several 
other  instances  which  Dawes  has  produced,  of  OTTOTC  simi- 
larly employed. 

Of  eiTrou  also  in  the  same  usage  preceding  the  optative, 
with  the  preterimperfect  tense  of  the  indicative  mood  in  the 
other  member  of  the  sentence,  Dawes  has  given  sufficient 
proof.  [M.  C.  256.  Ed.  B.  253.] 

"AXXy  Si  KaXXi)  Sw^arwv  <rr/aw^(UjU£vtj, 
EinOY  QiXwv  BAE¥EIEN  ok-trwv  Slpa?, 
EKAAIEN  11  SU(TTTJVOC.     Soph.  Trach.  924. 

And  wandering  up  and  down  the  house,  whenever  she  saw  a 
favorite  domestic,  so  oft  the  wretched  dame  would  weep. 

The  particle  ETTCI  occurs  in  a  similar  construction.  Kai  ot 
/usv  ovot,  £7Tti  TrXrjCTia^ot  6  ITTTTOC,  raura  Iiroiovv.  Xen. 
Anab.  p.  45.  ex  emend  at  tone  Porsoni ;  qutm 'dde  ad  Eur. 
Phcen.  412. 

5.  "  Verbs  of  the  form  of  aa'o-ot  are  never  used  in  an  opta- 
tive sense,   or  joined    with  «v  or  av  ;  but  are  always  put 
after  past  tenses  in  a  future  sense. 


412  THE   GRECIAN    DKAMA. 


'Eyw  yap  &v  fjLtipuKtov  HHEIAH2'  on 

E((;  TOVQ  SlKOtOt/C  KCU  <7O<poVQ  KOL   KOa/JLlOVQ 

Mo'youe  BA  AI01MHN.—  PI".  88."  [M.  C.103.  Ed.  B.I  05.  | 

For  I  when  a  stripling  threatened  that  I  would  visit  the 
honest,  and  wise,  and  respectable,  —  and  no  others. 

(1).  If  this  dictum  be  true,  and  I  have  met  with  nothing 
to  disprove  it,  all  tho  other  usages  of  the  future  optative 
must  be  struck  off  the  roll  without  delay. 

a.  £/}TotT£  :  fare  ye  well.  "  For  the  future  is  not  used  in 
this  construction." 

/3.  jitaXXov  av  Iffoijmriv,  is  a  form  equally  unknown  to  tho 
Greeks. 

(2).  The  future  infinitive,  it  has  been  already  remarked, 
keeps  no  company  with  the  particle  av.  The  aversion  to 
irplv  preceding  it  in  what  is  called  government,  seems  pretty 
much  the  same.  Elmsloy  (ad  Iph.  Aul.  v.  1549.)  has  justly 
suggested,  that  irp\v  tT7rapa'^i(r9ai  ico^uae,  is  a  solecism.  The 
looser  usage  of  the  aorist  infinitive  with  av  or  without  it, 
affords  no  excuse  for  breaking  down  the  narrow  fence  of  its 
neighbour. 

(3).  For  the  same  reason,  Elmsley,  ad  Iph.  T.  v.  937. 
appears  to  me  justly  to  condemn  KtXtvaOtlz  Spdaeiv  as  not 
legitimate  Greek  ;  while  (ad  (Ed.  E.  v.  272.)  he  does  not 
with  equal  decision  second  the  scholiast,  who,  in  reference  to 
in  v.  269.  writes  thus  —  <j>0aprivai  $u  ypatyeiv,  ov 


The  syntax  of  the  line 

'A  XX1  a>8e  irpoiOi]K£v  t 
is  condemned  by  Dawes,  on  the  very  same  principle.  "  For 
neither  can  a  future  follow  the  word  trpoiOriKfv"  [M.  C. 
iii.  Ed.  B.  iii.] 

(•i).  In  the  syntax  of  jut'XXw,  the  infinitive  mood  following 


THE    GRECIAN*    DRAMA.  413 

it  most  usually  occurs  in  the  future  tense,  but  not  univer- 
sally. The  authority  of  Porson,  ad  Orest.  v.  929.  on  v. 
1594.  julX/Xo)  K-avtiv,  has  pronounced,  "  that  the  aorist  is 
properly  put  after  the  verb  jut'XAfiv."  Elmsley,  ad  Heraclid. 
v.  710.  gives  his  sentence  thus  on  the  subject  :  '"  Wherever 
or  ypfystv  can  be  put  by  a  slight  alteration  for 
,  I  think  the  change  should  be  made." 

6.  "  The  optative,  when  joined  with  certain  words,  as 
"tva,  o^oo,  JUT),  can  only  be  subjoined  to  preterite  verbs,  and 
answers  to  the  Latin  Ama/vm  ;  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,  tva,  fypa,  /uj),  &:c. 

(.1).  If  both  the  action  and  the  purpose  of  it  belong  en- 
tirely to  time  past,  the  purpose  is  denoted  by  the  optative 
mood  only. 

(2).  If  the  action  belong  to  time  present  or  future,  the 
purpose  is  denoted  by  the  subjunctive  and  not  otherwise,  as, 


Thus,  it  is  right  to  say,   nroptvQr\,  Iva 

And  7ro/oEuera<  or  Troptvatrat,  "iva  jiia0rj. 

Yet  a  few  remarks  may  be  useful  to  assist  the  young 
scholar  in  distinguishing  between  real  and  apparent  excep- 
tions :  for  no  one  mistakes  the  following  modes  of  syntax  as 
legitimate  : 

<f)V\U.TTlT£  VVl>,     OTTWQ  fJ.l]  Ot^O/TO. 

TOTE  ya(o  E<£vAarT£T£,   otfutq  }ii]  ot^ijrat. 
(1).  Since  the  Greek  aorist,  like  the  Latin  preterite,  is 
not  only  taken  in  the  narrative  way,  as  £7/00^0,  /  icrote, 
but  sometimes  also  in  the  use  of  our  present  perfect,  /  hare 


414  THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA. 

written  ;  it  may  in  its  latter  usage  be  followed  by  the  sub- 
junctive. 

(2).  Since,  in  narrating  past  events,  the  Greek  writers, 
particularly  the  tragics,  often  employ  the  present  in  one 
part,  with  the  aorist  in  the  other  part  of  the  sentence,  as 
well  as  vice  verm,  we  are  not  to  wonder,  if  a  syntax  like 
the  following  be  sometimes  presented,  with  ucme,  or  with  'iva. 

Phcen.  47.  Kripvaati,  [revera,  EK^JOU^EP]  oorte  fia0ot.  K.  T.  A. 

"  He  proclaimed  such  a  reward  to  any  one,  that  should 
discover  the  meaning  of  the  riddle." 

(3).  If  the  verb  denoting  the  principal  act,  while  it  is 
true  of  the  present  time  which  it  directly  expresses,  be  vir- 
tually true  of  the  past  also  in  its  beginning  and  continu- 
ance, the  leading  verb  may  stand  in  the  present  tense, 
and  yet  the  purpose  be  denoted  by  the  optative  mood. 

(4).  In  passages  where  either  syntax  would  be  legitimate 
in  other  respects,  some  peculiarity  of  the  case  determines 
the  choice  at  once. 

'H  *yap  vtouc  ipirovraQ  Ei^ifvet  TTtSa), 
"AiravTa  iravSoKovaa  TrmSftae  orAov, 


vc,  OTTWC  ytvoiaSt  irpbg 

S.  Theb.  vv.  17-20. 

There  is  nothing  in  vv.  19,  20.  to  condemn  the  reading 
"  She  hath  reared,  that  you  may  become."  But 
in  w.  17,  18.  the  decision  lies.  "  She  reared  you  in  tender 
and  helpless  infancy,  that  you  might  become  one  day  her 
loyal  guards." 

Blomfield  gives  an  ingenious,  and  perhaps  just,  mode  of 
settling  the  point  in  similar  passages.  "  Say  that  the  sub- 
junctive was  sometimes  used  of  a  thing  past,  still  they  never 
used  the  optative  of  a  thing  present."  Ad  S,  Theb. 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  415 

7.  "  Ov  pr)  are  construed  either  with  the  future  indica- 
tive or  the  second  aorist  subjunctive/'1  [M.  C.  222=221.] 

""OTT&JC,  either  with  or  without  /UT),  is  construed  with 
the  second  aorist,  active  or  middle,  and  with  the  first  aorist 
passive/'  [M.  C.  228.] 

"  Ov  with  a  subjunctive  requires  /oV"     [M.  C.  340.] 

According  to  Dawes,  then,  the  following  forms  of  syntax 
are  correct. 

(1).   Ov  /u>)  Suffficvrje  £<7y  <j>i\oit;. 

(2).  'AXX'  OVTTOT  t^  IfJLOvye  /u?)  /udflye 

(3). 


(5).    2»c£7rr{oi',   OTTWC  /ui)  aiaQwvTai  ravra. 

(6).    ^uAdsat,    07TWC  JU»)  TV<f>6>J£. 

And  the  following  forms,  amongst  others,  are  not  legiti- 
mate : 

(7).  Ou  jur/  AjjjO/jaye.     Read,  Ov  /LI>)  Xiipi'iaii£. 

(8).  "OTTWC  2s  rouro  )ui)  StSa^yc  /ttijSsva.     Read,   St2a^£/c- 

(9).  'AXX1  owrt  fi  €K^»uyi)T£  Xati//7jpaJ  7ro3/;     Hec.  1038. 

Read,  'AXX1  ourt  /UTJ  'K^yyijTE,  "  Dawesius  sagaciter,  licet 
minus  recte/"1  R.  P.  With  the  great  critic  himself,  there- 
fore, read,  'AXX'  OVTI  /u»)  Qvyifrf. 

That  ov  does  not  precede  a  verb  of  the  subjunctive  mood 
unless  accompanied  by  /*»/,  is  true  enough  as  an  Attic  canon. 
In  the  Ionic  Greek  of  Homer,  the  other  syntax  is  perfectly 
right,  as  Iliad.  A.  262.  Ou  yap  TTW  TOIOVQ  tSoi»  avipac, 


A  very  ingenious  hint  is  started  and  ably  defended  by 
Elmsley,  viz.  "  that  when  ov  /LM)  is  prefixed  to  the  future,  a 
note  of  interrogation  ought  to  be  added."  He  advances 
a  similar  hint  on  the  particles  OVK  ovv. 

8.  "  The  active  /u£0i7tyui  is  not  construed  with  a  genitive, 


416  THE   GRECFAN   DRAMA. 


nor  the  middle  ptOitfjiai  with  an  accusative  ;"  but  vice  versa 
[M.  C.  238.] 

This  one  instance,  acutely  observed,  belongs  to  that  nice 
analogy,  by  which  several  other  verbs  in  their  active  and 
middle  uses  are  always  distinguished. 

(1).  jU£0t'r)jut  at.  a^njjUi  era.  [itOttfJiai  aov.  iHptt^cn  aov.  I 
part  —  myself  from  you. 

(2).  sXajSov  ai.  tXaftofinv  aov.     I  caught  —  myself  at  you. 

(o).  crTya  8'  t%ojji£v  aroyua.  flptrtuiv  t^taOai.  To  hold— 
ourselves  by  the  statues. 

(4).  fipuyovg  aitrtiv.  -a^tt  7rtVA(oi>.  You  will  fasten  — 
yourself  on  my  roles. 

(5).  aijQt^e  TJJV  KvXiKu.  ou  TTatSoc  opt^aTo.  jET(?  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.  31  7.] 

The  strongest  exception  against  this  rule  is  in  Hipp.  11  07. 
Ed.  Monk.  Whoever  will  turn  to  the  passage  itself,  and 
the  note  upon  it  in  Monies  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. 

Kctt  TTOTC  rtc  aVot,   '  rio-jOoc  8'  oyt  TroXAoi'  aj 


the  commentators  make  aviovra  to  depend  on  tSwy  under- 
stood, but  it  really  depends  on  tiVot,  and  the  sentence  is 
to  be  thus  construed.     "  And  one  shall  hereafter  say  of  him 
as  he  returns,  or  after  bo  has  returned." 
I  will  here  add  Aristoph,  Nub,  1147  : 


THE   GRECIAN*   DRAMA.  417 


Kai  fioi  TOV  vlovy  £i  ^£jua0»)k-£  rbv  Xo-yov 
'EKtTvov,   £<<p\  ov  ap-iws  tlai'iyayiQ  '. 
"  And  tell  me  concerning  your  son,  whether  he  has  learnt." 
Kuster  is  wrong  in  saying  here  that  vlov  is  put  for  the  no- 
minative after  the  Attic  form/'     [M.  C.  1  49.] 

(1).  This  remark  on  what,  for  distinction's  sake,  should 
be  called  the  Accusaticus  de  quo,  has  a  range  of  great  use- 
fulness, especially  in  the  Attic  poets.  The  following  in 
Homer,  Iliad.  Z.  239.  is  rather  unique  : 

fApofitvai  "ira&aq  re,   Ka<riyvriTOV£  T£,   iVac  ™, 
Kai  Trouiac.  "  h.  e.  TTE/CH  TrcuSwv.  1     Hej*ne. 
The  Attics  generally  use  the  Accusaticus  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  Accusaticus  A-./  vel  facti  where  the  governing 
verb  would  otherwise  require  the  genitive  case. 

>  waicac  T)  aiftdxj^ivovq  ;   PhO3n.  1226. 
£av  Vvfaheovrut  r) 
S.  Theb.  22S.  0. 


"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  formic.     JEn.  i. 
Ob  iram  interfecti  ab  eo  domini.     Livy,  21.  a.  2. 
Injuria  TOV  formani  spretam  fuisse. 
Iram  CVEKO  TOV  interfectum  fuisse  ab  eo  dominum. 
That    is,  not    injuria  foriuo.-.  not   'u\(m   domini;  which 
words  taken  alone  would  convey  ideas  very  different  from 
those  intended  by  Virgil  and  Livy, 

E  E 


418  THB   QHECIAN   DRAMA. 

(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.  /m^oy  n  xpy&iQ  affords  an  instance  of  what 
I  wish  to  suggest. 

11.   <j)tja\v  <?>'  tlvai  TTO\\MV  ayaBwv  o£toe  V/MV  6  7rot»)r>)c- 
"  'AyaOwv  a£toc  vfuv  is  to  me  an  unintelligible  expression. 
Read  mYioc  for  a'&oc/"  [M.  C.  254.]     This  appears  to  be 
an  error  of  Dawes.     The  following  are  instances  of  the 
construction : 

'Hfuv  8'  'A\i\\ti>g  o£toc  TI//JJC,  yvvai.  Hec.  313. 
"  Dignus  Achilles,  qui  a  nobis  honorem  accipiat." 
—  apotaOe  —  KuSoc  TotaSe  TroXiratg.  S.  Theb.  304,  5. 

Such  is  the  happy  emendation  of  Dr.  Blomfield,  who  sup- 
ports it  by  Iliad  A.  95.  Ila<n  Se  Kt  Tptvtaoi  X**Plv  KC"  KV^OC 
apoio. 

A  similar  passage  occurs  in  the  Iliad,  1.  303.  vid.  Heyn. 
in  loc. 

'Gc  a&oe  tirj  Oavarov  ry  TroXet.     Xenoph.  Mem.  ad  init. 
Hoaov  irpUiifJiat  <roi  ra  \nipi$ia  ;   \tyt.     Aclmrn.  812. 
'Qvi]<TOfjiai  (rot.     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. 

fivi  yap  TTor1  av,   ui  <j>i\ia 


rivi  <ppovovvTi  naipia  ; 

"  A  quo  enim  unquam,  cara  progenies,  audire  possim  ali- 
quod  conveniens  mihi  'C     [Mus.  Grit.  No.  4,  pp.  .519-53-5.  J 


THK    GRECIAN    DTi.VMA. 


TT. 

Porsorfs  Critical  Canons,  from  the  Classical  Journal, 
vol.  31,  p.  136-142. 

1.  THE  tragic  writers  never  use  pp  for  pa,  nor  TT  for  atr. 
Thus  they  never  said  Ksppovrtoiav  for  Xipvovrialav,  nor 
rrpaTTh)  for  irpa&aa).  30.  Hec.  8. 

2.  In  systems  of  anapsests  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  rot 
in  gnomes,  or  general  reflections.     Hec.  228. 

4.  The  forms  Suva,  £a'/ti'a,  in  the  2nd  pers.  sing.  pres. 
indie,  from  verbs  in  a/jiai  are  more  Attic  than  Suvy.  &c. 
Hec.  253. 

5.  Dawes  has  too  hastily  asserted  that  no  syllabic  can 
be  made  short  by  a  scenic  poet,  in  which  the  consonants 
/3X,  7X5  7ju,  yv,  Sju,  Si>,  concur.     This  rule,  though  gene- 
rally true,  is  sometimes  violated  by  ^Eschylus,  Sophocles, 
and  Aristophanes,  but  never  by  Euripides.     Hec.  298. 

6.  The  Homeric  rjSc  is  sometimes   found  in  the  tragic 
writers,  contrary  to  the  assertion  of  Valckenaer,  Phoen. 
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  :  aTnjXXayrjv  sometimes  occurs. 
Hec.  335. 

8.  The  participle  wv  is  seldom  found  in  conjunction  with 
another  participle,    Homer  has  tiriyra/Jiivov  trip  Iowa,  Hec. 
358. 


THE    GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

9.  'Qirwg  and  OTTW?  /.»/  are  generally  joined  with  the  2nd 
person  of  the  fut.  tense,  sometimes  with  the  third,  seldom 
with  the  first  :  opariov  tori,  or  some  similar  expression, 
may  be  conceived  as   understood  in  this  idiom  ;  as  Hec. 
398. 

10.  F£  fiiv  TQI  :  these  three  particles  are  very  frequently 
met  with  together  in  Sophocles  and  Euripides :  yi  roi  n 
never.     Hec.  598. 

11.  NEK/DOC    is  masculine,    when  it  signifies  the  corpse 
of  either  a  male  or  a  female.      Where  vticpov   occurs  in 
the  neuter  gender.  Bos    would  understand  <rw/ua.      Hec. 
665. 

12.  The  accusative  singular  of  Attic  nouns  in  £uc  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.  IIoO  denotes  rest,  TTOI  motion  :   TTO.  is  used  in  both 
senses.     Thus  irov   araarti,  TTOI  Se  flaafi ;   Phil.  833.  Hec. 
1062. 

14.  Instead  of  yca/iey,  ycttrf,  ySiaav.  the  Attics  used  the 
contracted  forms,  »J<rjU£v,  yore,  yaav.     Hec.  1094. 

15.  Several  verbal  adjectives1,  as  VTTOTTTOCJ  TTKTTOC,  /UEJUIT- 
roc,  a/u^tVXTjKroc,    and  some  others,   are  found   with   an 
active  as  well  as  passive  signification.     Hec.  1117. 

16.  The  ancient  Attic  writers  never  used  the  neuter  plu- 
ral with  a  verb  plural,  except  in  case  of  animals.     Hec. 
1141. 

17.  The  particle  /j?)  giving  the  sense  of  the  imperative 
accompanies  the   1st  or  2nd  aorists  subjunctive,  and  the 
present  imperative,  but  never  the  present  subjunctive,  or 
2nd  aorist  imperative.     There  are  some  few  instances  of  /XT/ 
with  the  fim  aorist  imperative.     The  Attic  writers  said, 


422  THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA. 


JUT)  jUE/ui/'y,  JUT)  Kajur??,  JUT)  jue'/^ou  ;  sometimes,  /UT)  /ul/u^at  ;  but 
never,  /a?)  /itt/u^y,  JUT)  KOJUE.     Hec.  1166. 

18.  The  first  syllable  of  taog  in  the  tragic  and  comic 
writers  is  always  short  :  in  composition  it  is  sometimes  long. 
Orest.  9. 

19.  The  Attic  writers  preserved  some  Doric  and  some 
Ionic  forms  in  their  dialect  ;  thus  they  always  said,  'A0aua, 
Kiirayoc,  and  not,  'A0/'ji'»j,  KUVT/yoc,  &c.  ;  also  juouvoe,  ^avoc, 
sometimes,  instead  of  /ao  voe,  Ztvog.   But  though  they  had  the 
form  Kvvaybg  and  \A0rft>«,  they  used  fcwt/rfytriflE  and  'Aflfjvcua. 
Orest.  26. 

20.  In  the  formula  of  adjuration,  7iy>oe  with  a  genitive 
case,  the  article  with  the  noun  is  seldom  omitted  by  the 
comic,  and  never  expressed  by  the  tragic  writers.     Orest.  92. 

21.  Adjectives,   such  as  Davids,   m'Soc,  are  of  three  gen- 
ders, though  they  are  less  frequently  used  in  the  neuter  <. 
Spofjiaai  |3Xe0ajOc»e.     Orest.  264. 

22.  TEKOUJTO  is  never  used  by  Euripides  absolutely  for 
/uTjrrj/o-     Orest.  285. 

23.  The  active  verb  is  often  found  instead  of  the  middle, 
the  personal  pronoun  being  understood  ;  as,  Km  vvi>  avoicd- 
\VTTT\  and  now  uncover,  sc.  yourself.     Orest.  288. 

24.  The  tragic  writers  used  the  form  in  atpa),  not  in  aivw  : 
thus  they  said  i-xQaipw,  not  l^Oaivw.     But  they  used  the 
form  in  atvw  in  preference  to  vati/w  ;  thus  they  said  la^aiviD, 
not  itrxvatvw.  .  Orest.  292. 

25.  0£(k,  in  the  nominative  and  accusative  singular,  is 
not  unfrequently  a  monosyllable,  and  very  often  in  the  other 
cases  ;    aartoG  is  also  sometimes  found  as  a  dissyllable. 
Orest.  393. 

26.  The  Attic  writers  made  the  penult,  of  comparatives 
in  iwv  long  ;  the  other  dialects  had  it  short.    Orest.  499. 


THE    irUEUAX    DRAMA.  423 

27.  The  iota  of  the  dative  singular  is  but  rarely  elided. 
Orest.  584. 

28.  ^V  hen  the  discourse  is  hastily  turned  from  one  person 
to  another,  the  noun  is  placed  first,  then  the  pronoun,  and 
then  the  particle  ;    as,   Mtvf'Xaf,    <rol  <5«  ro'Se  Xtyw.     Orest. 
614. 

29.  The  different  governments  and  usages  of  Set  and  XJH'I  : 
Homer  only  once  used  £H,  and  then  an  infinitive  mood  is 
subjoined.     II.  I.  337.     He  very  frequently  uses  \pri  with 
an  infinitive,  and  with  an  accusative  of  the  person  and  geni- 
tive of  the  thing ;   as  also  x/otw  with  the  accusative  and 
genitive.     Euripides  has  once  imitated  this  form  :  a\\a  r/c 
XP*'<*  a  IfjLov  ;    Hec.  962.     The  Greeks  in  common  said  Stt 
<rot   TouSe.      ^Eschylus  seems  first  to  have    altered  this, 
by  using  the  ace.  of  the  person,  and  gen.  of  the  thing,  ai/rbv 
-yap  ere  SH  IIoo/uii&'co?   (Prom.   86.)  ;   and  to  have  been  fol- 
lowed by  Euripides.     The  Attic  poets  never  use  ^p»j  with  a 
genitive :  thus,  orou  x/>»),  Set  \fyuv,  is  wrong,  and  should  be 
altered  to  OTOU  Set,  x/"7  Xiy£tv-     Orest.  659. 

30.  The  enclitic  copulative  TE  in  the  ancient  Greek  writ  el's 
never  follows  a  preposition,  unless  that  preposition  com- 
mences the  member  of  a  sentence.     Thus  they  said,  lv  -n. 

x^*t'«  or  iv  T«^t«e  T£  «/°Xa'f'  DU^  n°t  ""oXfOf  tv  r1 

Orest.  887. 

31.  Verbs  denoting  motion  take  after  them  an  accusative 
of  the  instrument  or  member  which  is  chiefly  used ;  as,  *•« 
TroS"  tir<y'£ae,    (Hec.  1071.)    where  TrotT  is  put  for  Tro'Sa,  and 
not  for  TroSi.     See  above,  No.  27.     Orest.  1427. 

32.  The  tragic  writers  seldom  prefix  the  article  to  proper 
names,  except  for  emphasis,  or  at  the  beginning  of  a  sen- 
tence.    Phcen.  145. 

33.  The  tragic  writers  do  not  admit  of  an  hiatus  after  t f, 


424  THE  GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

thus  they  did  not  say  Kayo*  ri  ov  S/ouii>,  nor  did  they  ask  a 
question  simply  by  oiroioq :  wherever  the  question  is  asked, 
oTroToc  must  be  written  6  TTOIOC,  not  OTTOIOC.  Phcen.  892. 

34.  AI/TOC  is  frequently  used  absolutely  for  /uoroe ;  and 
yet  avroQ  [JLOVOQ  is  not  a  tautologous  expression.     Phcen. 
1245. 

35.  The  article  forms  a  crasis  with  a  word  beginning  with 
alpha,  only  when  the  alpha  is  short ;  thus,  no  tragic  writer 
would  say  ra6\a  for  TO.  a0Aa,  because  the  penult,  of  aO\ov 
is  long,  the  word  being  contracted  from  atS\ov.     Phoan. 
1277. 

36.  The  n&un  aria,  or  ai>»i,  generally  has  its  second  syl- 
lable^ long,  but  sometimes  short,  as  in  four  instances  ad- 
duced by  Ruhnken.     The  verb  a  wow,  or  avta£w,  in  the  epic 
poets,  generally  produces  the  second  syllable.     Aristophanes 
has  the  second  syllable  of  aviw  thrice  short,  and  once  long. 
The  second  syllable  of  aviapog  is  always  short  in  Euripides 
and  Aristophanes,  and  long  in  Sophocles ;  but  the  third  syl- 
lable is  always  long.     Phcen.  1334, 

37.  Km  7ru»c5  and  TTWC  KOI,  have  very  different  meanings  : 
KOI  TTWC  is  used  in  asking  a  question  which  implies  an  objec- 
tion or  contradiction  to  the  preceding  remark  ;   as,  KOI  TTWC 
yivoir  av  TtJvSs  SuoTror/iwrfjoa ;  where  Creoles  question  is  an 
implied  affirmation,  that  the  messenger's  previous  remark 
was  not  true.     But  TTWC  KOL  asks  some  additional  informa- 
tion;   as,   Trtuc  icol  TriirpaKTut  CITTTV^WV  TTOICWV  $ovoc  ;  in 
this  latter  sense  KCU  follows  the  interrogativcs  n'c,  TTWC,  vroe, 
TTOU,    TroToc-      Sometimes   between  the   interrogative   and 
icai,  St  is  inserted.     Phcen.  1373. 

38.  'Qc  is  never  used  for  HC  or  TT/OOC,  except  in  case  of 
persons.     Homer  has  the  first  instance  of  this  Atticism. 
Od.  P,  218. 


THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA.  425 

'Qc  a!a  roi1  bf^ioiov  ayti  Qtog  we  rbv  ofjioiov.  Phcen.  141  o. 

39.  The  copulative  KOI  never  forms  a  erasis  with  tu,  ex- 
cept ill  words  compounded  with  tv  :  it  never  makes  a  crasis 
with  ait.     Phcen.  1422. 

40.  No  iambic  trimeter  occurs  in  the  traffic  writer*,  which 
divides  a  spondee  in  the  fifth  foot,   so  that  KCU  forms  the 
second  part  of  the  foot  :  thus,  there  is  no  line  like 

KQI  -yi)c  $«'Arjc  o\Boim  KpvfyOw  KOI  ra^w.      Phoen.  1464. 

41.  'AAXa  /ui/r,  KOI  ;uj/i>,  OUCE  fi»7i>,  ou  ]uj)i'.  are  frequently 
found  in  a  sentence,  with  the  addition  of  the  particle  7*, 
but  never  except  where  another  word  is  interposed :  thus, 
Eur.  Alope. 

Ou  firjv  av  y'  7j/zo£  roue  TtKuvrag  y'^tcrw.      Phosn.  1638. 

42.  The  quantity  of  the  penult,  of  av?)/>  is  no  where  long, 
except  where  it  makes  avipog  in  the  genitive  case  :  and  as 
the  tragic  writers  do  not  use  the  form  avipog  in  iambic, 
trochaic,  or  anapaestic  verse,  the  penult,  of  avijp  is  in  these 
metres  always  short.     Phoeu.  1670. 

43.  Porson  writes  t,w  instead  of  avv,  both  in  and  out  of 
composition,  where  the  metre  and  smoothness  of  numbers 
will  permit ;  but  in  iambic  metre,  not  so  as  to  introduce  a 
spondee  where  there  might  be  an  iambus.     Med.  11. 

44.  The  tragic  writers  in  iambic,  trochaic,  or  legitimate 
anapaestic  verse,  never  admit  vepl  before  a  vowel,  either  in 
the  same  or  different  words.     In  the  choral  odes  they  rarely 
admit  a  verb,  or  substantive,  of  this  kind  of  composition — 
very  rarely  an  adjective  or  adverb.     Med.  284. 

4.5.  The  distinction  between  S(SaaK(u  and  SicaaKOfiai  is 
this: 

The  master  StSaak-a  (teaches)  the  boy  :  the  father  2i8a<r- 
K£Tcu  causes  his  son  to  be  taught ;  though  this  distinction  is 
not  always  observed  by  the  poets.  Med.  297. 


426  THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

46.  A  vowel  at  the  end  of  a  verse  cannot  be  elided  unless 
a  long  syllable  precedes.     Med.  510. 

47.  ME0tt)jut  in  the  active  voice  governs  an  accusative ; 
in  the  middle,  a  genitive  case  :   in  the  line 

"Ayovaiv  ov  /ut0eT'  av  IK  yaiatj  fjue  : 

the  pronoun  tjul  is  the  accusative  after  the  participle  ayoutrt, 
not  after  jueflao.  The  truth  is,  that,  when  two  verbs 
governing  different  cases  refer  equally  to  the  same  noun,  the 
Greeks,  in  order  to  avoid  an  inharmonious  repetition  of  the 
proper  name  or  pronoun,  give  it  only  once  governed  by  one 
of  the  verbs,  and  omit  it  with  the  other.  Med.  734?. 

48.  The  tragic  writers  never  use  the  form  in  uo>  for  that 
in  v/xt — (thus  they  do   not  say    ojuvuw,  but  ojuvu/xt)  :   the 
writers  of  the  old  comedy  use  it  very  seldom — those  of  the 
middle,  oftener — those  of  the  new,  very  often.     Med.  744. 

49.  "Ayto?  and  ayvoc  are  sometimes  interchanged  in  the 
earlier  editions  ;   but  ay  tor;  is  very  rarely  used  by  the  Attic 
— never  by  the  tragic  writers.     Med.  750. 

50.  All  compound  adjectives  ending  in  op  were  anciently 
declined  with  three  terminations :  and  after  the  feminine 
forms  had  gradually  become  obsolete,  the  poets  and  Attic 
writers  recalled  them,  for  the  sake  either  of  ornament  or  of 
variety.     Med.  822. 

51.  From  at/'/ow  the  ancients  formed  the  future  at/ow,  or 
oe/ow,  by  contraction,  alpOj,  or  opw,  the  penult,  being  long. 
But  when  they  contracted  OEJ'/OW  itself  into  a'/pw,  then  they 
had  a  new  future,    a/ow— the  penult,  being  short.      Med. 
848. 

52.  The  future  form  /uE/iV7j<ro/icu  (found  in  Homer,  II.  ^. 
390.),  is  always  used  by  the  tragic  writers — the  form  jivw 

is  never  used  :  the  same  remark  is  tine  of  KEK\>j<ro* 


THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA.  [27 


fiat  and  \s\r\B  r}ar>fiai.     But  /3Xr}0/j(To/uat  and  /3«/3X/j«ro^at  are 
met  with  indiscriminately.     Med.  929. 

53.  The  nominative  forms,  a^/3Aon//  and  a^/3X(U7roc,  yop- 
•yw-Js  and  jopjdnro^.  <j>\oyw\f;  and  ^Ao-ywTroe,  aS//r'jc  and 
ao/urjroc,  a^u?  and  a£yyoc,  V£O^i»^  and  VEO^YOC,  £UK/oac 
and  £UK-parof,  and  such  others,  are  both  Attic.  Med. 
1363. 


428  T1IE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 


III. 


BloinfielcFs  Canons  and  Remarks^  from  the  ClassicalJournal, 
vol.  37,  p.  275,  39.  141. 


PROMETHEUS    VINCTUS. 

1.  The  ancient  Greek  poets  sometimes  lengthened  the  a 
privative,  and  in  aBdvaroq  always.  193. 

2.  'EuTTiflije,  not  cwTrafljje,  is  the  proper  form  in  the  tragic 
writers.     It  is  formed  from  the  second  aorist,  as  cvyew/e, 
tuorraXrje,  euXajSrje?  and  many  others.  341. 

3.  The  Athenians  were  accustomed  to  estimate  the  nobi- 
lity of  a  family  by  the  number  of  horses  which  it  kept  for 
the  Olympic  games.  475. 

4.  Kv/era,  Kpi'aa,  Kptaatoe,  KOviaaXog,  not  Ki>(7<ra,  &c.  is 
the  proper  orthography.     It  may  be  observed  in  general, 
that  transcribers  doubled  the  sigma,  wherever  it  was  possi- 
ble without  offending  against  quantity;  as  in   Uapvacros, 
Ka<7a»>S(>a,  &c.  See  Gloss.  53.  505. 

5.  Avrog  rrpoc  aurou,  not  TTOOQ  «im>c  UVTOV.   787. 

6.  The  Attic  writers  preserved  the  terminations  of  num- 
bers in  composition.     Thus  they  said,  7TEvr»jicoi>ra7rate>  TTEV- 

f  jS?Trt  ft*7ft 

7.  The  ancients  when  they  quoted  a  proverb,  the  author 

of  which  was  unknown,  used  to  say,  Kara  rovg  <ro^oiȣ,  or 

?       ,   i 
01  ao<poi 


THE  r;r.nri\x  DRAMA.  429 


S.  lu  the  active  voice.  pt\uv  signifies  cut'ce  css(,  to  be 
an  object  of  care  ;  in  the  middle  voice  only  fti\taOai  de- 
notes eurai'i\  to  take  care.  Gloss.  "5. 

9.  ^n'pyw,  cpquo  aninio  fero,  to  bear  patiently,  [or  rather 
to  be  content  with,  to  submit  to]  ;  in  which  sense  ajairadj 
is  also  used.  Srtpyw  sometimes,  though  seldom,  governs  a 
dative  case.  Gloss.  11. 

30.  flayoc,  a  hill;  from  the  old  word  Trayw,  pango,  to 
build  ;  because  in  the  first  ages  men  were  accustomed  to 
build  their  huts  on  the  more  elevated  situations  ;  whence, 
more  anciently.  Trayoc  was  the  same  as  the  Latin  pagus  ; 
the  first  syllable  of  which  is  long,  being  derived  from  the 
jEolic  Tray  w,  sc.  TnVyui  :  the  first  of  irajo^  is  now  short, 
because  the  more  recent  Greeks  formed  it  after  their  usual 
manner  from  the  2nd  aorist  of  irr}yvv//(.  Gloss.  20. 

11.  The  last  syllable  of  TT«W  is  always  long.  Gloss.  30. 

12.  Amro/oo?,  or  Aiaropoc?  perforating  or  perforated,  ac- 
cording as  it  is  paroxyton,  or  proparoxyton  ;  it  is  used  in 
both  senses.  Gloss.  76. 

13.  Kuk-Ao£,  a  circle,  an  orb,  is  sometimes  put  simply  for 
the  sun.  Philoct.  81  -5.  Gloss.  91. 

14.  Mvpi'a  signifies  iroXXa.  and  is  a  metaphor  taken  from 
fluids  ;  from  juvpw,  to  flow.  Gloss.  94. 

15.  Tayoc  is  one  who  arranges;  a  military  word,  from 
Tacraw.  The  first  syllable  is  always  long  :   but  of  rayi)  and 
its  compounds,  short.  Gloss.  96. 

1  6.  'OS/ur),  the  ancient  Attic  form  for  odjn/.  Photius  and 
Thomas  Magister  call  it  Ionic  ;  which  is  also  true,  for  the 
Ionic  and  ancient  Attic  dialect  M'ere  the  same.  Gloss.  11.3. 

17.  1£ic7rX770'<7w,  to  drive  out,  is  followed  by  an  accusative 
either  of  the  person  or  the  thing.  Gloss.  136. 

18.  XaXaw,  to  loosen,  is  properly  said  of  ship  ropes. 
Gloss.  183. 


430  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

19.  Srop/w,  sterno,  to  spread,  for  which  the  Attics  said 
ffTopvu/jt.    Hence  the  Latin  word  sterna.  Gloss.  198. 

20.  Arj0ci>,  scilicet:  this  particle,  generally  joined  with 
a>c  and  a  participle,  adds  somewhat  of  irony  to  the  sentence 
in  which  it  occurs.     Sometimes  it  is  found  without  we,  as 
Trach.  382.  Gloss.  210. 

21.  Diminutives  ending  in  v\og  have  something  of  blan- 
dishment in  them,   as  euyuvXoe  from  aifjuav  ;    TjSuAoe  from 

;  (JiiKKvXog  from  juiKicoe,  or  jtxticpoe  ;  ipwrvAoe  from  tpwe  ; 
alavXoQ,  Aio^uAoe,  XptfjivXot;.  The  form  seems  to 
be  ^Eolic,  because  it  is  preserved  in  Latin ;  as  in  the  dimi- 
nutives, parvulus,  tremulus,  globulus,  and  especially  aemulus, 
which  is  in  fact  nothing  more  than  the  Greek  word  a<ju6Aoe« 
All  the  words  of  this  kind  are  paroxyton,  and  short  in  the 
penult.  Gloss.  214. 

22.  Adverbs,  of  whatever  form,  are  not  derived  from  the 
genitive,  as  grammarians  suppose,  but  from  the  dative  case 
of  nouns.  The  greater  part  of  those  deduced  from  the  dative 
plural  end  in  we  (sc.  oie),  some  from  the  dative  singular  in 
«  or  i.     Those  which  were  formed  from  nouns  ending  in  i\ 
or  a,  were  anciently  written  with  «,  since  they  were  nothing 
else  than  datives,  so  written  before  the  invention  of  the  letters 
»j  and  w.  Thus  from/Bot,  gen.  /Soce,  dat.  /3oet,  arose  avrofioti. 
But  the  dative  of  nouns  ending  inoewas  formerly  thus  formed : 
oTicoe,  dat.  o'tKot,  orpaToe,  dat.  orparot ;  therefore  all  adverbs 
derived  from  words  of  this  kind  anciently  ended  in  01 ;  which 
is  evident  from  the  adverbs  OIKOI,  TrtSot,  apf.iw,  tv$o~t,  which 
still  retain  the  old  termination.      Afterwards  the   o  was 
omitted,   lest  the  adverb  should  be  confounded  with  the 
nominative  plural.    Thus  from  afta^oe  is  formed  apa^t,  not 

t,  from  avaroe,  ovar/,  from   o/ua^rjToe,  ajua^Ti,  from 
«(TTfvaKTi,  &c.  The  ancient  form  was  frequently 


THE    GRECIAN*    DRAMA.  4:31 

corrupted  by  transcribers,  because  they  were  not  aware  that 
the  final  t  is  sometimes  long  and  .sometimes  short :  short,  a- 
t,  Iliad  A.  636.  /u£yaAu<TTi,  2.  26.  jueAtum,  Q.  409. 
^i,  yEschyl.  ap.  Athen.  vii.  p.  303.  C.  awoi  Aristoph. 
Eccles.  737.  Theocrit.  x.  40.  xxiv.  38 :  long,  as  awBp&m, 
Iliad.  O.  226.  a(T7rouS7,  O.  476.  ai/a/juw-7,  P.  363.  OVOUTIJT?, 
X.  371.  /u£TaTTot\7,  ¥.  358.  tyicurt,  Archilochus.  Etym.  M. 
p.  311.  40.  (yet  the  last  syllable  of  the  same  word  is  made 
short  by  Callimachus.  Suid.  v.  f^XP^)  a<rrakTi,  CE.  C.  164U. 
<k-poi>u\7,  Meleager  Brunck,  Anal.  i.  p.  10.  aK\av-l.  Callim. 
fr.  ccccxviii.  Gentile  adverbs  ending  in  T/,  as  Awpurrt, 
Qpvyiarl,  kc.  have  the  last  syllable  always  short.  Gloss.  216. 
[There  is  however  a  class  of  adverbs  ending  iu  tuc,  as  2m- 
^fpoyrwc,  iravrajg,  OVTWC,  aatyaXwc.  a\r)6wc,  fcc.  which  are 
more  probably  formed  from  the  genitive  than  the  dat.  plural. 
See  Dunbar's  Article  in  the  Class.  Journ.  vol.  xiii.  p.  7-5.] 

23.  Adjectives  ending   in  we,    when   compounded   with 
another  word,  change  the  vg  into  »jc,  as  /u£Xa///3a0j)c,  ir-tnv- 
YWK-JJC,  KwoQapaiK.  &:c.  Gloss.  227. 

24.  'AvrajU£//3ojua(,  to  requite,  takes  either  a  dative  or  a 
genitive  case.  Gloss.  231. 

25.  NrjXtwe  is  formed  from  anjAtwe  by  aphseresis.  not 
from  the  privative  particle  v>),  which  i.s  not  a  Greek  word, 
So  there  is  i'J)<me  and  O.VI\<JTIQ  ;   v/j-yptroc  and 

vjjvfjuoc  and  av//vf/uoc;  v»)k-ouffT£w  and  ai/r/KOuartto  ; 

and  av/jk-£<rroy.     Xt}\iyfw  is  used  for  avaXfyijc,  viiirtvOtjg  for 

«i/a7T£v0/jc,  vjjjufpr^c  for  ava/usprTjc,  (Hesych.)  by  eliding  a, 

and  changing  a  into  »}  lonice.    'Avu\nrog  occurs  Theocr.  vi. 

36.  for  which  there  is  vijAtTroc,  Apoll.  Rh.  iii.  646.     Gloss. 

248. 

26.  9aKo?  is  the  form  used  by  the  Attic  poets  : 
seems  to  be  Ionic.  Gloss.  288. 


432  TIIK    GRECIAN'   DRAMA. 

27.  Mtr«  in  composition  signifies  change  or  alteration. 
Glow.  317. 

28.  ZijAw  ere,  invidendiim  te  pinto  ;   I  think  you  enviable. 
This  is  a  form  of  speaking  which  congratulates  with  some 
admiration.     Maico/)/^   is  frequently,  6Aj3t'£w  but  seldom, 
used  in  this  sense.    See  Valcken.  Theocr.  Adoniaz.  p.  415. 
Gloss.  338. 

29.  Tlapa  in  composition  very  frequently  conveys  the  idea 
of  weakness  or  uselessncss ;   as  Traprjojooc  and  Traparovoe, 
Alcest.  400.  Gloss.  371. 

SO.^AVc,  orciis,  the  same  as  Ai'S»ic,  but  with  the  soft 
breathing  ;  the  Attics  said  «Vc,but  AtSric,  ol<rrog,  m<r<7w,  &c. 
Gloss.  442. 

51.  «l>i'jOb>,  commisceo,  to  mingle  ;  the  more  recent  form  is 
0i>paa),  which  occurs  Theb.  48.  Gloss.  459. 

32.  "YTTOO,  vcnini  somnium,  a  true  dream  ;  Horn.  Od.  T. 
547.   OVK  oi'op,  oAA1  VTrap  taOXbv,   o  Kal  rc-TtAto-jUfi'Oi'  tWa<. 
Gloss.  495. 

33.  The  first  syllable  of  Atxraptw  is  long,  because  it  is 
formed  from  AtrapTjc.  Gloss.  529. 

34.  'ATTUW,  prommcio,  to  utter,  has  the  penult  common. 
It  is  short,  P.  V.  613.  Theb.  143.  Pers.  123.  Equit.  1023. 
It  is  long,  Hec.  156.  and  Eiir.  Suppl.  800.  Gloss.  613. 

35.  Words  compounded  with  TrA/yo-cw,  as  otffrpoTrA?)!;,  aro 
nil  oxyton,  except  (WAr?!;.  Oloss.  702. 

36.  Xpi'/iTrrw,  propinquo,  to  approach.     The  most  ancient 
mode  of  writing  this  word  was  XpiVrtu :  in  which  ju  was 
afterwards  inserted  for  the  sake  of  euphony.  Gloss.  738. 

37.  SuAaw,  spolio,  to  plunder,  requires  an  accusative  of 
the  person,  and  an  accusative  or  genitive  (but  more  fre- 
quently an  accusative)  of  the  thing.  Gloss.  786. 

38.  Xoptv  Oia&ai,  riQtoOat,  and  even  Otivat,  signifies  to 
confer  a  favor,  Gloss.  807. 


THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA.  433 

39.  "ATTU/)OC,  ardentissiiims.  In  some  words  a  is  intensive, 
and  is  said  by  grammarians  tiriramv  SijXouv  :  so  aSattpvroe 
for  TroXuSoKjOuroc,  in  Soph.  Trachin.  106.  Antig.  831. 
ei£vX<i>  vXrj,  Homer,  II.  A.  135.  airvpog,  in  the  sense  of  sine 
iyne,  is  used,  Agam.  71.  Gloss.  90-3. 


PERS.E. 

1 .  The  tragic  writers  made  the  first  syllable  of  taog  short ; 
but  in  !»To0£oc  they  necessarily  lengthened  the  iota,  in  order 
that  the  word  might  be  adapted  to  verse.     The  same  thing 
took  place  in  aOavaroe,  aicajuaroc,  airapa^ivBoq.     They  said 
i/£Tj0opoc,  ddTrtorj^opo^,  sXa^ujpoXoc,  and  the  like '  rather 
than   OtoQopog,    aairi&Qfyopoq,    fXa^>o|3oXof,  for   the    same 
reason,  viz.  that  the  concurrence  of  four  or  more  short  syl- 
lables might  be  avoided.  (81.) 

2.  Kimvtoi/,  according  to  Burney,   is  a  trisyllable  :  but 
since  nvavov  is  the  name  of  a  metal,   KVUVIOV  is  more  cor- 
rectly written  xvavovv.     Phrynichus,  X/o/j  ovv  Afyetv  \pvua, 
apyvpa,    nvava.    rov  'ArriKt^ovTa. — Xpvaovg  Xlyt'   TO   yap 
\pvfftoQ   'IOKOV,  tjjcravTwg  KOI    apyvpovg,  ^aXtcouc,   icuavouf, 
k-ai  ojuota.     The  first  syllable  of  ttvavtoQ  is  always  long  in 
Homer ;  as  also  in  Soph.  Antig.  966.  Eurip.  Androm.  856. 
1003,  Tro.  1094.  (83.) 

3.  An  inhabitant  of  Syria  was  called  EDpoe ;   an  inhabi- 
tant of  the  island  of  Syros  (one  of  the  Cyclades),   2v/xoc. 
(86). 

4.  It  is  uncertain  whether  the  tragic  writers  used  the 
present  imperative  of  yiyvofjiai.   (170.) 

5.  As  often  as  iroXvg  is  joined  with  an  epithet,   the  par- 
ticle KOI  intervenes,  though  it  adds  nothing  to  the  sense. 
This  remark  is  true  of  all  the  ancient  Greek  writers.  (249-) 

F  P 


4*14  THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

6.  Tho  more  ancient  Attic  forms  were  KA.£u<Tjiia, 
icXavffroe,  tf/tfcavaroc,  Kara^i'tr/jara,  K(oouffjua  ;  in  the  more 
modern,  the  sigma  was  dropped.  (403.) 

7.  Atya,  ?jc,   is  the  more  ancient,  Styoe,  to?,   the  more 
modern  form.  (490.) 

8.  The  first  syllable  of  cuw  is  short,  Pers.  639.  Agam.  55. 
CE.  C.   1767.  Hec.  178. ;  and  long,  Eumen.  841.  (E.G. 
304.  Hec.  174.  Vesp.  516.  (639.) 

9.  The  imperfect  of  aTroXXujui  is  but  seldom  used  by  the 
tragic  writers  :  Soph.  Electr.  1360.   aXX'  tjut  Aoyoif  a 
Xvc-  CE.  Ki.  1454.  ij/   c£   £K£iva>v,  01  /i'  a7ra>XXvri?v, 
(658.) 

10.  'From  $aa>  is  formed  TH^OO-JCW,  as  from  Saw, 

from  /Saw,  /3t/3aaKw,  which  should  be  replaced  in  Homer 
for  the  anomalous  word  /3t/3a<r0<u.  But  the  .^Eolic  form 
TTKpavaKU)  is  more  frequently  found  in  Homer.  (668.) 

11.  'I0uvw,  not  £v0vva>,  is  the  more  ancient  Homeric 
and  poetic   word ;  for  the  Attics  used   tvQvvw,  svfluvoc, 
tvOvvq,  &c.,  only  in  political  affairs :  that  lOvg  was  the 
ancient  Attic  word  is  proved  by  the  compounds  lOvrtvfa 

I0ttyaXXoe,  iSaytvfa.   (779.) 

12.  The  Greeks  said  SaXajutvt'Sec  and  SaXa/xwatJee,  not 
SaXajutvtSec  ;  as  also  Xft/xwvtSfc  and  XttjuwvtaSee  ;  Kpnvi$t£ 
and  KpijvtaScc.  (965.) 

13.  'A^vfoe,  opulentus,  wealthy  :  the  more  common  form 
is  a^vaor;.     Gloss.  3. 

14.  IltSocm/BTje,  /^?T«  incedens,  walking  on  the  ground. 
This  word  frequently  occurs  in  Euripides.     Compounds  in 
<mj3?jc  sometimes  have  a  passive  signification  ;   as  r)\io(m- 
/3fc,  P.  V.  816,  atmjS^c,  Theb.  857.  Gloss.  132. 

15.  'Ev  v/iTv,  penes  te  sunt,  depend  on  you.     The  same 
meaning  obtains,  CE.  B.  314.  'Ev  aol  yap  tVjutv.     See -also 


THE    GRECIAN'    DRAMA.  43") 

Aj.  Fl.  519.     Phoeniss.  1265.  Iph.  A..  1379.   Helen.  1441. 
Gloss.  177. 

16.  AtVa?yov,  arerta  ;  Anglice,  a  poitrel  or  breast-band, 
which  performed  the  office  of  the  collar  with  us.     The  word 
is  formed  from  AfTra^w.  dccortico,  to  strip  off  the  bark. 
Photius  make-?  AeVaSvov  and  jua<TxaAt<m)p  the  same.  Gloss. 
166. 

17.  2$aSa£w,  luctor,  to  struggle;  properly  said  of  those 
who  are  in  the  agonies  of  death.  Gloss.  199. 

18.  <£auAoc  and  ^Aaupo?  are  used  in  the  same  sense  ;  but 
$O.V\OQ  is  more  frequently  applied  to  persons,  and  ^AaDpor 
to  thinas.     Their  derivations  are  different.     That  is  pro- 
perly  called  <fr\avpov  which  is  light,    and   of  no  weight. 
From  its  parent  word  0Alw,  are  derived  ^ArX,  $Aeoc,  ^>At- 


;  ah1  of  which  have  a  notion  of  lightness  and 
emptiness.  Gloss.  222. 

19.  'A/u£v  is,  to  scrape  with  the  hand.   sc.  the  sand,  and 
to  make  level,  from  ajuo  :  hence  a/uau/sov  is,  whatever  is 
levelled  with  the  ground.     Of  the  same  family  are  a/ua0oc, 
ff7Y/za,  the  sand  ;  and  anaQvvo,  to  erase,   a?  letters  written 
on  the  sand  :  likewise  a/uoAov,  plane,  and  aj.iu\tvvw,  to  ren- 
der plane  ;  and  all  of  them  perhaps  ought  to  be  aspirated. 
Gloss.  288. 

20.  The  ancients  only  used  the  plural  form  cWjuai,  occa-s/.'.s, 
the  setting,  sc.  of  the  sun,  or  the  West.     On  the  contrary. 
8u<r<e  was  always  put  in  the  singular.  Gloss.  237. 

21.  The  particle  £a  is  nothing  else  but  the  ./Eolic  form  of 
$ta,  which  has  an  intensive  force,  like  jpcr  in  Latin.     Thus 
Al«eus  said  £a3i|Aov  for  StacrjAov  :   Sappho.   %at\iKadfjiav 
for  citXt^dfjiiiv.     Therefore  we  find  £a'0toc.  £ajufin}c,   £071-0- 
TJJC,  £a<££yy7jc,  ^d^pvoo^  £axp^oc«  Gloss.  321. 


436  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   diim,    quamdiu, 
whilst,   as  long  as,    it  requires   the  present  or  imperfect. 
Gloss.  432. 

23.  Noju<£eti>  signifies  to  believe  in  the  existence  of.     He 
who  believed  in  the  gods  was  said  absolutely  Otovg  vopfaiv 
or  riyttaOai.  Gloss.  504, 

24.  IlfyiTr/oijjitj,  incendo,  to  burn.     Perhaps  the  first  /u  was 
inserted  by  the  later  Greeks ;  and  the  ancients  wrote  7rt7iy>Ttyu 
and  7rt7rX»}jt«,  according  to  the  usual  form  of  verbs  in  fjn. 
yE^Tr'nrpr}f.u  occurs  in  Aristot.  Hist.  Anim.  v.  1.  as  also 
frequently  in  Herodotus, — £/i7rt7rA»jf«,   Homer,  II.  <P.  311. 
Nor  is  the  quantity  of  the  syllable  any  objection.     See  Er- 
furdt,  Soph.  CE.  R.  p.  414.  Gloss.  815. 

25.  In  the  tragic  writers  the  plural  of  tirmfjuov  is  used, 
not  the  singular.  Gloss.  828. 

26.  From  the  ancient  word  TTVUW,  the  first  syllable  of 
which  is  long    (and  its  perf.  pass,    frequently   occurs   in 
Homer),  is  formed  TTLVIXTKU),  in  the  same  way  that  ytv&otw 
is  formed  from  jvww.  Gloss.  835. 

27.  'Ave'xojuat,  sustineo,  to  bear  or  endure,  is  joined  with 
a  participle.     See  Dr.  Monk's  Hipp.  354.  Gloss.  843. 

SEPTEM    CONTRA    THEBAS. 

1.  'ETTI,  in  the  sense  of  contra,  is  sometimes  used  with  a 
dative  case  by  ^Eschylus.      See  Sept.   Theb.   711.  Agam. 
60.  P.  V.  1124.  though  with  the  genitive  more  generally. 
V.I. 

2.  The  article  is  frequently  used  for  the  relative :  rovg 
for  OVQ  Pers.  43.  rovrrtp  for  ovirfp  ibid.  780.  roSev  for  oSfv 
ibid.  780.  rr>  for  rjv  Agam.  G44.  &c.  V.  37. 


THi:    GKEC1A.V    DKAMA.  437 

S.  The  tragic  writers  used  the  Doric  forms,  nvvayoc;, 
Kvvaytw,  KwaytTTjg,  Ao^aytTije,  IjSSo/uaytrTje.   ^  •  42. 

4.  Brunck  and  Schutz  prefer  as  more  Attic  TrXtvfjLwv  in- 
stead of  irvevfjidjv,  but  the  latter  is  the  more  recent  Attic 
form.     The  grammarians  indeed  side  with  Bmnck,  but  then 
it  is  well  known  that  they  derived  their  rules  for  the  most 
part  from  ^lian,   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  VTJOC  for  vaoc  was  not  used  in  the  iambic 
senary.  V.  62. 

6.  Evxopai  is  frequently   omitted   before   an   infinitive 
mood.     See  Sept.  Theb.  239.  Choeph.  304.  Eurip.  Suppl. 
3.  V.  75. 

7.  Ttw  has  the  first  syllable  common  in  Homer,  but  short 
in  jEschylus  and  Aristophanes.     The  first  syllable  of  T'KTW 
is  always  long.  V.  77. 

8.  The  first  syllable  of  "Apw  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  Aoyoe,  rpo- 
XQC,  &c.  in  the  tragic  writers  never  end  in  ac  ;   that  termi- 
nation being  more  modern  and  less  agreeable  to  analog}'. 
V.  109. 

10.  Some  adjectives  have  the  three  terminations,  «oc, 

«0f,     (ICOC)     aS  tTTTTftOC,     tTTTTtOC,     ITTTriKOq  ;      $OV\tlO£,     SovAtOf, 

SovXiKog,  &c.     The  first  of  these  three  forms  is  used  only 
on  account  of  the  metre.  V.  116. 

11.  The  last  syllable  of  iroTvia  is  always  short.  V.  141. 

12.  The  probable  orthography  of  \\-6a  is  icvoa.     From 
Kvltt)  is  derived  Kvovg  and  KI^OO,  as  from  /JHU,  povg  and  poa  ; 
from    ^'c 


- 


438  THE    GRECIAN    DKAMA. 

13.  Mi)  sometimes  forms  a  crasis  with  el  and  tic.  V.  193. 

14.  The  tragic  writers  never  join  It  and  TC.  V.  212. 

15.  The  words  Su  TOI  are  never  construed  except  with 
the  indicative.  V.  220. 

16.  Own  no  where  begins  a  sentence,  unless  /ur),  TTOU,  or 
irwg  follows,  or  when  there  is  an  interrogation,    and  then  a 
word  is  always  interposed  between  them.     The  formula 
aXX'  otm  is  frequent  at  the  head  of  a  sentence.  V.  222. 

17.  Nvv  is  always  an  enclitic  when  it  is  subjoined  to  the 
particle  /^.     V.  228. 

18.  'ATroXe-yw  is  a  word  unheard  of  by  the  tragic  writers. 
V.  259. 

19.  The  Attics  wrote  S/ji'oe  and  Syoc,  not  Sato?  and  Saoe, 
as  is  clear  from  the  compounds  SijtaXwroe,  tiSyoe,  and  the 
verb  Spoto.     A  a  toe,  however,  is  the  proper  orthography, 
when  it  signifies  aO\iog.  V.  2G4. 

20.  Ntae  is  a  monosyllable.  V.  316. 

21.  'Oc,  in  the  sense  of  adeo  ut,  is  only  found  with  the 
infinitive.   V.  361. 

22.  fY:rf/3K07roc,  not  t/TTf/aKOjUTToc,  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  /j..  V.  387. 

23.  "Avoid,  and  similar  compounds,  very  rarely  produce 
the  last  syllable ;   in  j^Eschylus  never.  V.  398. 

24.  AA  /ur)  Kpavot  0£oe.     In  prayers  of  this  kind  the  aorist 
is  more  usual  than  the  present.  V.  422. 

25.  'lei?  in  the  tragic  writers  has  the  first  syllable  com- 
mon, but  oftener  short.  V.  489. 

26.  T«u  is  never  put  for  rovrq  with  a  substantive.  V.  505. 

27.  EiOe  yap  is  scarcely  Greek.      Utinam  is  expressed 
by  it  or  ii  yap,  never  by  £t'0t  70^.  V.  563. 


THE    GRECIAV    DRAMA.  439 


28.  no\tfiapxo£,  not  noXtfiapxag.     That  the  Attics  ter- 
minated compounds  of  this  kind  by  \oe  may  be  inferred 
from  the  circumstance  that  their  proper  names  were  "l-jnrap- 
%oe,  Nla/o^oc,  KXta/o^oc.  V.  828. 

29.  In  the  Attic  poets  probably  /ut'Xtoi  ill  the  vocative  is 
always  a  dissyllable.  V.  94>5. 

30.  ITptryoc  is  a  more  traffic  word  than  irpay/jia.  Gl.  2. 

31.  Words   compounded  of  poOot;  were   favorites  with 
JEschylus,    as   iroXvppoOoc:,   ra\vppo9og.    tTTippodog,  a\ip~ 
poBos,  ira\lppo9og^  &c.   Gl.  7« 

32.  From  otjuot  is  derived  oi^tw£w,  as  from  juu,  /uu£w  ; 
from  J,  oȣw  ;    [from  at  at,  ata^a>  ;  from  ot  o?,  of&o  ;  from 
tXeXfu,  tXfXt^t-j  ;  from  ororot,    OTOTW^O*  ;   from  au,  ava»  and 
aurtw  ;   from   0tu,    <j>iii£it)  ;    from  tuot,   eva^cu].      Oi/zaryn   ig 
more  frequently  used  than  ot/utoyjua.  Gl.  8. 

33.  When  'EXXttVw  signifies  deficio,  absum,  it  requires  a 
genitive  ;  when  it  signifies  omilto,  it  is  followed  by  an  accu- 
sative. Gl.  1  0. 

3-t.  Ilv/DyctT/a  is  &  fortification,  or  a  collection  of  irvpyoi  : 
just  as  xat'rw/ia  and  Tpiyvna  are  a  collection  of  \airai  and 
Tpi\££.  Gl.  30. 

So.  IlavwXi^iooe  has  both  an  active  and  a  passive  signifi- 
cation. Gl.  71. 

36.  The  tragic  writers  use  both  Xaoc  and  its  Attic  form 
Xewff.  Gl.  80. 

37.  "A/uaxtroc  is  used  but  rarely  for  afia\og  and  o/ 
TOC.  Gl.  85. 

38.  AVKUOC,   an  epithet  of  Apollo,  is  derrv^ed  from 
dilucul.um,  whence  the  Latin  ^arv  Gl.  134. 

39.  From  the  obsolete  verb  XT/ICOJ  are  derived  the  perfect 
\i\aica  and  the  second  aor.  tXatcov.  Gl.  141. 

40.  B/5£0&>  sometimes,  though  rarely,  has  an  active  signi- 


440  TIJE    GRECIAN'    DRAMA. 

fication,  "  to  load."    It  is  more  generally  used  intransitively, 
"to  be  heavy."  Gl.  141. 

41.  The  tragic  writers  frequently  used  nouns  in  ac,  as 
A/0ac,  a  heap  or  shower  of  stones ;  vt^oe,  a  shower  of  snow ; 
^uAAae,  a  heap  of  leaves,  &c.  Gl.  146. 

42.  2r£ya>,  sustineo,  non  admitto ;  is  properly  said  of  a 
ship  which  is  water-tight.  Gl.  202. 

43.  "EiojAoc  is  formed  from  the  obsolete  verb  £*cw,  volo  : 
as  from  <rtyatu  or  triyw,   (TtyrjAoc  ;    from  ai<r^ui»b>,  ai<r^i>i>ri)- 
Aoe ;    from  ttyi,    tyr}\6g ;    from  /3t/3a(u,   /3tj3»jAoe.   Gl. 
224. 

44.  Satv£ii>  is  said  of  a  dog  who  wags  his  tail  and  fawns  : 
thence,  to  flatter.  Gl.  379. 

45.  The  penult,  of  aAuw  is  short  in  Homer,  and  long  in 
other  Greek  poets.     In  the  Odyssey,  I.  398.  aXvuv  has  the 
penult  long,  which  would  lead  to  the  supposition  that  the 
passage   where   it  occurs  was  not  Homer's,  though  it  is 
quoted  by  an  old  grammarian  in  Eustath.  II.  Z.  p.  654,  55. 
Gl.  387. 

46.  The  Greeks  used  QavaTnifynpog,  AcguTraSr^OjOoc,  \0ovi- 
\\fyopoq,  and  the  like,  instead  of  Oavaro^opoG,  &c.  to  avoid 
the  concurrence  of  four  short  syllables.  Gl.  41 5. 

47.  'H  /urjv,   certe,  is  a  formula  of  confirmation,  used  in 
case  of  an  oath.  Gl.  527. 

48.  Words  ending  in  JJCTT^C  are  very  rare.  Gl.  641. 

49.  Srwyoe,  odium,  is  frequently  used  by  ^Eschylus,  but 
;very  seldom  by  others.  Gl.  650. 

50.  Tpt'w  is  a  Doric  word,  very  seldom  used  by  the  tragic 
writers  except  in  the  aorist.  Gl.  790. 

51.  Words  compounded  of  KOT-OC   were   favorites  with 
^Eschylus.  Gl.  804. 

52.  'OAoAvyfio?  is  a  female  cry  or  shriek.  Gl.  825. 


THE   '.KiXIAN    DRAMA.  44:1 

53.  \\\a.\a%(t)  strictly  means,  to  raise  the  shout  of  tri- 
umph ;  sometimes  simply  ejulo.  Gl.  951, 

54.  'A$t\<ftiO£  no  where  occurs  in  the  tragic  writers  ex- 
cept in  the  choral  odes.  Add.  537. 


AGAMEMNON. 

1.  KAm'w,  Kat'w.  &c.   were  the  more  ancient  Attic  forms  ; 
for  which,  subsequent  to  the  time  of  YEschylus,  K\UM.  nav. 

.  &c,  were  used.  V.  17, 

2.  'EaAdik-a  and  ?;Xw*:o  are  both  found  in  the  best  Greek 
writers ;   the   former  is   more   ancient ;   the   latter,  more 
modern  Attic.  V.  29. 

3.  It  is  doubtful  whether  x/oT^a,  or  xp«*>ia,  is  the  better 
form.     From  xp'lb>  (the  first  syllable  being  always  long)  was 
deduced  xpiarog,  as  from  x/mo/uat,  x/njaroc.     But  the  sujj- 
stantive   was   \/oij/*a ;    so  from   \pi(±>,  \pipa ;    from    KO  I/I'M, 
K-ovT^ua  ;  from  /urjWcu.  ^u?Ji/7^a.  V.  93. 

4.  Adjectives  compounded  of  the  dative  Sopi,  or  Sov/>f, 
retained  the  iota  in  composition,  as  SO/O/KTJJTOC,  Sou/otaAwToc, 
oopiATjTrTO^,    covpnrtTTiG,    copt/navrfg,    copiBijpaTog,  copifj.ap- 
yog.      But  those    which  are  formed  from  the   accusative 
retain  the  v,  as  coov^opog^  ^ojoutrerooc,  Sopv^oog,  SopvKpa- 
voc.  V.  115. 

5.  Diminutives  of  animals  terminate  in  i£tuc-   V.  117. 

6.  TotovTov  and  rooouroi'  are  the  Attic  fonns  of  the  neu- 
ter gender  ;   TOIOUTO  and  TOOOVTO  the  Ionic.   V.  306. 

7.  The  Attics  said  SUIKOVUV  rather  than  Sojicovtti>.   V. 
310. 

8.  Eu  <Tf'/3f<i;  0foi»c-   and   ivaifluv  tig  Oeovg  diifer  :   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  aXiaKOfiai  in  the  present,  and  adopted 
the  other  tenses  from  aXoo>,  whence  also  avaXow.     Where- 
fore the  optative  should  be  written  aAi^rjv,  as  /3twrjv,  Sy'ijv. 
and  the  like.  V.  331. 

10.  "OTTWC  av  does  not  precede  the  optative,  except  in  the 
sense  of  quo  maxime  modo.     When  OTTWC  signifies  nt,  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. 

El  7TOT£  fJLOl  KOi  TTCtrpl   (j)t\tt  fypOvioVOCl  7rOjO£(TTTJC 

Ar)«o  iv  TroXtfjity,  vvv  ovr'  ffjit  tytXai,  'A0j]Vi). 
Ri  TTOTE  is  more  frequently  used  than  £?  TTOU.  V.  503. 

13.  Ajoocroi  Karei/'Eica^oi',   tjuTTtSov  aivog 
'E<T0i)juaTtov,  TiQivTig  (.vOrjpov  rpi-^a. 

Here  the  young  scholar  will  remark  that  the  masculine  par- 
ticiple TiOlvTtg  agrees  with  the  feminine  noun  Spoaoi ;  of 
which  anomaly  perhaps  no  other  instance  can  be  found  in 
the  Attic  poets,  except  in  the  case  of  animals.  V.  544. 

14.  rio»c  av  with  the  optative  frequently  signifies  utinam 
in  Euripides,  much  more  rarely  in  the  other  tragic  writers, 
perhaps  never  in  yEschylus.  V.  605. 

15.  Fop  is  frequently   used  in   interrogative   sentences 
[and  may  be  translated  by,  what?].  V.  613. 

16.  Atat,   a?rat,   and  UTTCU,  occur  in  the   Greek  poets  for 
the  more  common  forms  Sm,  OTTO,  and  VTTO.  V.  865. 

17.  Gupatoc  is  said  of  a  person  even  in  the  feminine  gen- 
der :  Ovpala  of  a  thing  in  the  same  gender.  V.  1022. 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  443 

18.  The  penult,  of  7rXTj0uo>  is  short ;   of  ir\riOvv<u,  long. 
V.  1341. 

19.  The  primary  meaning  of  Suoj  was  probably  lihn'.'ss, 
similitude :  whence  SucqXov,   an  image ;  and  S/KTJV,  for  Kara 
SI'KIJV,    imtar,   like.  Gl.  3. 

20.  Bouc  eiri-  yXwatry  is  a  well-known  proverb,   and  said 
of  those  who  being  bribed  do  not  mention  those  things  they 
ought  to  disclose,   and  then  applied  to  others  who  through 
fear  or  dread  of  punishment  dare  not  speak  out  freely.    The 
origin  of  the  proverb  may  probably  have  been  derived  from 
the  custom  among  the  ancients  of  holding  in  their  mouth 
the  coins  which  they  received  from  the  sale  of  their  wares. 
A  similar  phrase  occurs,   CE.   C.   1051.    \pvala   icAtie  itr\ 

yA(t»<T(T£  filfidKlV.    Gl.  35. 

21.  According  as  friendship,  hospitality,  an  oath,   [sup- 
plication,] companionship,  or  purification,  was  referred  to, 
Jupiter  was  invoked  by  the  title  of  ^iXto?,  ^tvios  or  i<j>ia~ 
TtOf,  opKtoc,    [IKE<«OC,]  ETCU/otloc,  or  KaOapaioc.  Gl.  60. 

22.  Such  expressions  as  t<m  S'  OTTI;  vvv  tan,  are  used 
where  a  speaker  alludes  to  an  unpleasant  subject,  and  thus 
briefly  dismisses  it.  Gl.  66. 

23.  It  was  the  custom  of  the  poets,  when  they  made  use 
of  a  trope  somewhat  too  bold,  immediately  to  subjoin  the 
epithet  in  order  to  limit  and  define  its  meaning.     In  the 
P.  V.  828.   ./Eschylus  calls  FpvTrag,  Zijvoc  nvvag  ;  but  he 
corrects  the  metaphor  in  some  degree  by  adding  aitpayti^ 
"dogs  indeed,  but  not  barking  dogs."'  Sept.  Theb.  64.  he 
calls  an  araiy  uu/ua,   but  adds  \sfxraiov.     Ibid.  82,   dust  is 
called   a  messenger,   but   avauSoc-     Ibid.    856.    he   calls 
Charon's  boat   Ottop&a  ;  but   immediately  adds  rai»  aartjSf/ 
VoXXwvt  to  distinguish  it  from  the  true  Otwpiz.  Gl.  81. 

24.  The  origin  of  t?},  tuot,  and  similar  exclamations,   is 


444  THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

not  to  be  sought  in  the  Greek  language,  but  in  that  of  the 
nation,  to  which  Greece  owes  its  mythology,  sc.  the  Egyp- 
tian. Gl.  144. 

25.  tlepq.  is  the  dative  of  the  obsolete  TTE/OO,  TTE/oac,  TTS/O^, 
Trtpav  ;   and  hence  the  reason  why  the  last  syllable  is  long. 
Gl.  183. 

26.  'AvSpwv,  yuvaiK£twv,  [TrapOevwv,]   &c.  were  elliptic 
expressions  originally  for   avSpiov,    yvvaiKuv,   [-trapOtvwv] 
(0aAa|uoe)  whence  the  genitive  came  into  use  for  the  nomi- 
native. Gl.  235. 

27.  The  participle  of  the  perfect  passive  is  frequently 
used  actively,  as  TreTrwdjutvoc,  rjWjuti/oe,  t^rjjOTraorjut'voe,  TTE- 

tppajfjiivog,  £KK£KOjUtO/l£yOe,  a  VCtKEKOjUfO^UVOe,  aTroSeSffyjUfVOC. 

&c.  Gl.  252, 

28.  "Aptorov  was  the  first  meal  which  the  ancients  took  in 
the  morning,  and  generally  about  the  third  hour.     Phile- 
mon, however,  asserts  that  the  meals  were  uKpariafjia,  apia- 
TOV,  £(T7T£/)t<Tjua,  and  SUTTVOV.  Gl.  322. 

29.  A.6y \inos,  ad  hastain  pertinens.     Similar  forms  are 

TTOlVlfJLOQ,    SoKt/IOf,    TTOjUTTt/UOC,  TjOO^JftOC,  apTTajtfJlOG, 

ovtjuoe,  irapafjiovtfJiOQ^  avvaywyijjiot;,  a\Ki/J.O£,  Ka\- 
\tfjios,  KV&/J.OG,  w^f'Xt/uoe,  aot^tfjLog.  Verbal  adjectives  in 
tjuoc  are  of  a  different  class,  as  aXwmfwc,  and  have  a  cer- 
tain middle  signification  between  the  active  and  passive. 
Gl.  395.  and  Gl.  9. 

30.  'P//x0a,   celeriter,  is  derived  from  ^//UTTTW,   the  Ionic 
form  of  piiTTd) ;  whence  /u/ju^aXfoe  and  pin^ap/^aTo^.     With 
the  same  variety,  the  lonians,  i.  e.  the  Hellenes,  said  \pifj.- 
TTTW  for  Xjonrrw,  and  Aa/ii/<o/ueu  for  ATJ^OJUCU.   Gl.  397. 

31.  In  compounds  from  o/ooc,  the  Ionic  form  ovpog  is  re- 
tained in  £ui/ou/>oe,  airovpog,  Trpoaou/ooC)  TijXou/ooe,  which  is 
not  the  case  in  6/uo/jo?.  Gl.  478. 


THE   GRECIAX   DRAMA.  445 

32.  "'Avaivofiai.  to  deny,  is  joined  with  a  participle  of  the 
person  speaking.  Gl.  566. 

33.  Adjectives  masculine  are  sometimes  found  with  femi- 
nine substantives,  as  Tv\q  avrrip,  \tip  Trpaicrw/o,  7T£i0a>  OcXic- 
Twp.  Gl.  647. 

34.  ttvtOXov  is  a  word  only  used  by  the  poets.  Gl.  757. 

35.  It  is  doubtful  whether  the  form  \aivta  in  the  present 
is  found  in  the  more  ancient  Greek  writers.  Gl.  893. 

36.  "  Solebant  veteres  ante  cibum  vtyaaOai  manus.   et 
post  cibum  airovi^aaSai,  teste  Polluce,  quem  Stanleius  advo- 
cavit."  Gl.  1004. 

37.  S^trytToi',  the  vessel  which  received  the  blood  of  vic- 
tims. [Victima  tamen.  Troad.  742.]  Gl.  1060. 

38.  KfAojucu,  though  frequent  in  Homer,  seldom  occurs 
in  the  tragic  writers.  Gl.  1088. 

39.  'EiroTTTtvui,  inspecto,   is  a  word  frequently  used  by 
^schylus,  but  not  by  the  other  tragic  writers.     Its  proper 
signification,  at  least  in  Attic  Greek,   is  to  behold  the  mys- 
teries. Gl.  1241. 

40.  Eii/uapqc,  facilis.  is  formed  from  an  old  word  ,uao  ?/. 
a  hand  ;   as  from  x«'/>>  *v\fpfa-  ^-  1297. 

41.  Uaaao/j.ai.  tescor.  in  which  sense  it  is  used  only  in  the 
aorist  and  joined  with  an  accusative  or  genitive.     The  sun- 
pie  form  was  TTQW,   whence  Trarsw,   and  pasco  :  iraaaaOai, 
vesci,  has  the  first  syllable  short ;  iraaaodat,  possidere^  has 
the  first  syllable  Jong.  Gl.  1380. 

42.  "Ewe,  when  it  signifies  qua'nidiu.  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 
^o^Std).     The  primitive  root  was  ^uow  (whence  moveo,  by  an 
increase  in  the  number  of  syllables,  and  the  insertion  of  the 
digamma).     Hence  juoejooc,  juwpoe,  mobilis,  (whence  tojuoi* 

,  fj,6\8og,   &c.  Gl.  1614. 

46.  Words  ending  in  trijc  may  be  called  locals  ;  as  Sw/ja- 

c,  &c.  Gl.  1640.  941.  47. 


CHOEPHOR03. 

1.  It  may  be  doubted  whether  the  future  of 
occurs  at  all  in  the  Attic  poets.  V.  125. 

2.  "OTTWC  /wty>  with  the  future  indicative  and  with  the 
aorist  subjunctive,  is  correct,  and  therefore  there  can  be  no 
reason  why  both  forms  should  not  be  used  in  the  same  sen- 
tence. V.  260. 

3.  The  first  syllable  of  Scu£<o  is  common  in  ^schyluis. 
after  the  example  of  Homer.  V.  390. 

4.  The  particles  KO!  Sr)  are  perhaps  never  joined  with  the 
optative.  V.  557. 

5.  The  Greeks  said,  not  TroXXct  ttava,  but  TroXXa  KOI  Suva. 
V.  578. 

6.  If  Ttc    av   ayKa\£aaiTo  ;    (Again.  989.)   rt'c  av  ravra 
iriOoiTo  ;  (Theb.  1068.)  rlq  %v  «5£mro  ;  (Agam.  1312.)  &c. 
be  right,  riq  \iyot  ;  cannot  be  correct.  V.  586. 


THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA.  447 

7.  A  short  vowel  before  a  mute  with  a  liquid  may  be 
made  long  in  the  choral  metres.  V.  597. 

8.  EcKacra  is  the  more  ancient,   yKaaa  the  more  modern 
Attic.  V.  62:3. 

9.  ETti>-  OKOVW.     The  lengthening  of  a  short  syllable  in 
this  place  cannot  be  defended,   unless  perhaps  it  was  the 
usual  form  of  the  porter's  answer  ;  sisv'  aicouw.  V.  645. 

10.  When  any  one  to  a  question  irwc  so  answers  a<  to 
doubt  of  the  question,  the  reply  is  made  by  owwg.     The 
same  rule  applies  to  TIC.  irot,  and  the  like.  V.  755. 

11.  The  particles  a  AX'  r\  are  used  at  the  head  of  inter- 
rogative sentences.  V.  762. 

12.  The  tragic  writers  always  used  TruArj  in  the  plural. 

13.  QiXrar'  AlyiaOov  /3m.     This  is  the  only  instance  of 
the  circumlocution,  /3m  rtvoc.  joined  with  an  adjective  mas- 
culine.    [Most  probably  a  comma  should  be  placed  after 
^t'Arar',  and  then  there  will  be  no  necessity  to  have  recourse 
to  the  ayr\}Jia  Trpoe  TO  (Tjjjuatvojusvov.  V.  880. 

14.  Ou  JUT)  with  the  future  indicative  forbids,   with  the 
aorist  subjunctive  denies.  V.  882. 

15.  The  Greeks  did  not  use  avrbv  for  i^aurov.  though 
they  said  avrovg  forrjuag  avrov£.  V.  1001. 

16.  Karlpx0^01  signifies  to  return,   as  an  exile,  into  his 
country.  Gl.  3. 

17.  The  Greeks,   when  they  attained  to  the  age  of  pu- 
berty, used  to  cut  off  their  hair,  and  consecrate  it  to  Apollo 
Kouporpo^oc,   and  to  rivers.     Theseus  commenced  the  cus- 
tom, for  he  consecrated  to  Deh'an  Apollo  the  hair  which  he 
cut  from  the  fore  part  of  his  head.  Gl.  6. 

18.  Ttc  is  sometimes  used  for  irag  rig,  un'ifjuisque.  Gl.  53. 

19.  <£a<TK<i>,  dictito.  differs  from  0T/(ut.  as  J3a<ricu  from  j3f//ut, 

from  Sp^jut,  yiyvdxiKw  from  yvw/w,  [\a<jK<.o  from 


448  THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

^aw,]  and  the  like.     The  termination  <TKW  denotes  repeti- 
tion of  the  action.  Gl.  87. 

20.  To£a  in  the  plural  almost  always  is  pnt  for  a  single 
bow  in  the  tragic  writers.  Gl.  155. 

21.  'Eica  sometimes  signifies,  apud  inferos.  Gl.  353. 

22.  jEschylus  was  partial  to  words  compounded  of  icajuvw, 
as  SojOtK/iT^  avSjooKjuJje,  &c,  Gl.  359. 

23.  Feminine  nouns  ending  in  rpta  are  derived  from  mas- 
culines in  »je,   as   Tro\£fjLifTTpia  from  TroAejuHTnije,    ayvprpia 
from  ayu/orrje,   (f>a.L$pvvrpia  from  <£atS/omT7)£.  Gl.  418. 

,  24.  XatpEiv  is  construed  with  a  participle  of  the  verb  ex- 
pressive of  the  action  with  which  one  is  delighted.  Gl.  442. 

25.  OvOap,  uber,  peculiar  to  the  other  animals ;  /uaaroc 
was  applied  to  women.  Gl.  526. 

26.  "On-Aa  denotes  any  kind  of  instruments.  Gl.  537. 

27.  IloSaTroc,  cujas,  is  formed  from  the  ancient  pronoun 
TTOC,  and  the  substantive  SOTTOC,  the  ground.  Gl.  567. 

28.  Iliojuai  is  the  ancient  future  for  iri(rofj.ai  from  TT/W. 
Aristophanes  has  Tnercu,  the  first  syllable  being  long,  Eq. 
1286.  1398..     The  more  recent  form  is  TTIOV/UU.     Theocri- 
tus,  vii.    69.   has  the  first  syllable  of  TTI'O^CU    short.    Gl. 
570. 

29.  K/w,  vado,  is  an  Homeric  word,  not  used  by  Sopho- 
cles or  Euripides ;  and  from  it  is  derived  Kti'tw.  Gl.  668. 

30.  'O7n<T0o7roe,  pedissequa,  for  btriaQoitovq,  as  afAAoTroc, 

OtSlTTOC?  TTOuAuTTOC,  for  Uf AAo7TOUC>  Ol&Vove,  TToXviTOVf.    Gl. 

701. 

31 .  The  Attics  said  with  the  Dorics  Sn//yi>  and  ireivyv  for 
£ti//ftv  and  Trtivnv  :  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 
find  subjunctive  moods].  Gl.  744, 


THE    GRECIAN'    DRAMA.  449 

32.  "Avtu,  perjicio,  has  the  penult  long  in  the  present, 
and  short  in  the  second  aorist.  Gl.  786. 

33.  Avo^fjooc?  tenelricosus.     Except  Si/rtyoc,  cvo-aXiZw, 
and  SVCH/>,  no  Greek  word  begins  with  Si/.  Gl.  797. 

34.  Eustathius,  II.  A.  467.  44.  derives  tXvyxps  from  sAtu/ 
*7X°£>    because  most  subjects   of    dispute   were    decided 
by  arms.     This  etymology  is   much  more   probable   than 
another  given  in  the  same  place,  aa-o  TOV  t\qv  ty\gg.     For 
tXtyXpg,  the  grasping  of  the  spear  to  decide  a  dispute,  was 
the  game  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  <mp;e,   some  have  a  passive  sig- 
nification, as  TrarpotTTeptjg,  ofjifiaroa-tpiiz,  fiiovrtpiw,  i]Xioa- 
ripfa  ;  4ind  some  an  active,  as  apyvpocrTiprjq,  6///iarocrre|Ojv/c» 
(Bum.  933.)  ri\io<rrfpfa  (CEd.  C.  314.)  Gl.  989.  and  247. 

36.  Names  of  winds  ending  in  tag  are  formed  from  other 
names,  Gl.  10-34. 


G  G 


THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 


IV. 

Canons  and  Remarks 

In  the  Hippolytus  and  Alcestis  of  Professor  Monk, 
from  the  Classical  Journal,  vol.  37,  p.  124. 

1.  K&Xijjuat  is  frequently  used  by  the  tragic  [and  other] 
writers  in  the  sense  of  «juf.  Hipp.  2. 

2.  n/o£<r/3£vw  sometimes  signifies  Trporijuaw,  to  honor  or 
respect.  So  Choeph.  486.  rovSt  TrpEffjSfuffw  ratyov.  Hipp.  5. 

3.  0r)<r£a>e  TraTc,  'Ajua£ovoe  TOKOC  '•  this  pleonasm,  where 
in  prose  we  should  have  said  Orjcmue  KOI  'Afia^ovoc  TTOIC  or 
TOKOC,  is  not  uncommon.     See  Dr.  Blomfield's  note  P.  V. 
140.  Hipp.  10. 

4.  I'ia/^EUjua,  as  also  Xo^£u/ia,  jutar/jua,   and  other  words 
of  the  same  class,  are  used  for  persons.     Moreover,  the 
plural  form  Traitkvjitara  denotes  only  one  individual,  sc.  Hip- 
polytus, as  in  Soph.  Philoct.  80.  TEx^/xara,  one  cup,  Hec. 
269.  7rpoo-^a7/tara,   one  victim.  Hipp.  11. 

5.  IlaXat  TT/ooicoi/'aa1,  ov  TTOVOV  TroXXou /UE  Sa.      HpOKo^ad1 
is   here  a   nominatimt*  pendem  ;    of  which   solcecism,    or 
archaism,  instances  occur  in  ^Esch.  Suppl.  4oo.  Choep.  518. 
P.  V.  209.  (E.  C.  1120.  Phocn.  290.  See  Kuster.  Aristoph. 
Pint.  277.  and  Grcgor.  Corinth,  p.  33.  Hipp.  23. 

6.  n/ooKOTTTw  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  alviw  is  mv/jcrw  in  Homer,  and 
in  the  tragic  writers.  Hipp.  37. 


THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA,  451 

8.  "ApTtfjiiv  rtfjLwv  Otav]  Not  Otbv,  as  Aldus  edited  and 
Valckenaer  preferred  :  i]  Otbg  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.  55. 

9.  'A&ooi  sometimes  occurs  in  the  sense  of  audeo,  to  dare, 
as  in  Heracl.  950.  Pers.  335.  and  elsewhere.  Hipp.  74. 

10.  "Ocmc  in  the  singular  is   frequently  followed  by  and 
referred  to  a  plural.  See  Antig.  718.    720.  Androm.  180. 
Ran.  714.  Hec.  359,  360.  II.  T.  279.   Hipp.  78. 

1 1 .  6av/jLa%w  signifies  to  pay  homage  to.  or  honor.  Hipp. 
105. 

12.  IIoAAd  \alpfiv  (j>paam  denotes,  to  bid  good  bye  to; 
to  quit ;   to  reject ;   to  discard.     See  Again.  583.  Acharn. 
200.  Hipp.  112. 

13.  2iryyvwju?ji'  t\tiv  signifies.  (1)  to  grant  pardon,  and 
(2)   to  receive  pardon  or  excuse.     The  former  sense  is  the 
more   frequent.     (1)    See   Eur.    Suppl.    252.  Orest.    653. 
Soph.   Eleetr.   400.     (2)   Phcen.  1009.  Soph.  Trach.  328. 
Hipp.  116. 

14.  The  penult  of  3>apoq  is  generally  short  in  the  tragic 
writers,  but  always  Jong  in  Homer.     JEschylus  has  it  lorn. 
Choeph.  9.  Qapta  is  a  dactyl  in  Iph.  T.  1157.  and  Orest. 
1434.  Hipp.  125. 

15.  'ATrAeik-av,  aTrAaicui,  and  an-AaKtjua,  should  be  always 
written  in  tragic  verse  without  /u,  as  is  manifested  from  the 
fact,  that  there  are  many  places  in  which  the  metre  re- 
quires, none  where  it  rejects  these  forms.  Hipp.  145. 

16.  The  penult  of  yspaiog.  StlXaiog,  tfcratoc,  &c.  is  some- 
times  short.      See   Gaisford's   Hephsest.   p.   216.     Hipp. 
170. 

17.  'ApiffKu  ill  Attic  Greek  requires  either  a  dative  or 
accusative  case  ;  but  the  latter  seems  to  be  the  more  legi- 


432  THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

timate  construction.     Mceris,  p.  I7o.  says,  "H/o£<Tt /ut,  'Ar- 
TIKI~>(;'   ijpfat /HOI,  ' E\XriviKu>£,   Ka\  KOJI/WC.    Hipp.  184. 

18.  The  active  voice  of  GWUTTTU)  is  sometimes  used  for 
the  middle.     See  Phcen.  714.  Heracl.  811.  Pers.  888. 

19.  $/Aoc  in  the  poets  has  frequently  the  sense  of  EJUOC. 
Hipp.  199. 

20.  rijOOTroXoe  signifies  either  a  male  or  a  female  attend- 
ant ;  aju^tVoXoc  only  a  female  attendant.    See  Eustath.  II. 
T.  p.  394,  31  =  299,  1.  Hipp.  200. 

21.  FIwc  «v  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  GE.  B.  76o. 
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\ITVC  is  short  in  the  tragic 
writers,  but  long  in  Homer.  Hipp.  227. 

24.  HapaKOTTTfiv  typtvag  signifies  to  pervert  the  under- 
standing ;    but  TTapaKOTTTttv,  as  also   TrapctTrautv,    is  more 
frequently  used  in  a  neutral  sense,  to  be  mad. 

25.  MaTa  is  said  of  a  grandmother,  a  midwife,  a  nurse. 
The  last  sense  is  the  more  frequent  meaning  of  it.  Hipp.  243. 

26.  'OSuvdw,  though  used  in  Hipp.  247.  does  not  occur 
in  any  other  passage  in  the  Greek  tragedies. 

27.  The  last  syllable  of  Xiav,  ayav,  Trt/oav,  and  evai',  is 
always  long  in  the  Attic  poets.  Hipp.  2G4. 

28.  'O/ow  [ilv  .  .  .  iiar)fjia  £'  7jju7v.     The  enallage  or  change 
from  the  first  person  singular  to  that  of  the  plural,  and 
versa  vice,  is  very  common  in  the  Greek  tragedies.  Hijp. 
263. 


THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA.  453 

'29.  The  neuter  plural  adjective  is  frequently  used  instead 
of  the  singular,  acnjua  for  aanjuov,  gu-yyvaxn-a  (Hec.  ]089. 
Phcen  1008.  Med.  491.  701.  £e.)  for  Zvy-yvwarov.  Hipp. 
269. 

30.  "Ari]  in  the  tragic  writers  is  said  of  any  calamity,  but 
especially  of  some  severe  dispensation  of  Providence.  Hipp. 
276. 

31.  The  prepositive  article,  6,  7j,  TO,  followed  by  jutv,  Si, 
ya/>,  is  frequently  used  by  the   tragic  writers  in  the  sense 
of  ouroe    and   EK£?VO?.     Even  without  these  adjuncts,  the 
article,  though  less  frequently,  possesses  this  signification. 
Hipp.  280. 

'32.  Both  the  forms  irXdvoQ  and  TrXavrj  occur  in  the 
tragic  writers.  In  ^Eschylus  the  feminine  form  generally, 
perhaps  invariably,  is  found,  whereas  Euripides  always  uses 
TT\avo?  :  from  whence  it  may  be  inferred,  that  the  latter 
form  prevailed  after  the  time  of  ^Esehylus.  Hipp.  283. 

o'3.  E<fu  is  an  exclamation  employed  where  the  subject 
under  discussion  is  abandoned,  and  a  new  topic  of  conver- 
sation started.  Hipp.  297. 

34.  The  verbs  olSa,  ytyvwnew,  jjiavOavb),  alaQdvonai,  &: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   Evvot^a  <ro<|>o£  wv.   i<r0t  SuffTror/iof 

c-  See  Trach.  741.  Soph.  Electr.  1200.  Hipp.  304. 

35.  The  tragic  writers  used  the  double  forms,  liririo^  and 

covXio?  and  ^ouAttoc,  Bak-^toc  and  BaK^€toc,  Trap- 
and  irapBivtutq.  Hipp.  307.  1297. 
36. "Epoc  and  -ylXoc  are  the  /Eolic  forms  of  the  words 
Epa>c  and  -y/ XMC-  The  former  is  frequently  used  by  Homer, 
(but-  only  in  the  nominative  and  accusative  cases),  and  by 
Euripides  five  times;  in  other  Attic  writers  it  is  doubtful 
whether  epoc  occurs  at  all.  Hipj».  b'37. 


454  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 


37.  Tt  iraa^HQ  ;  is  an  interrogation  used  by  the  Attic 
writers  in  the  sense  of  the  English  exclamation,  what  ails 
you  ?  Hipp.  340. 

38.  The  verb  avt^eoBat  is  often  joined  to  a  participle,  as 
Mowjc  yap,  ot'Sa,  rrov  K\VMV  ai'l^trat.     Pers.  835.   See  also 
Med.  38.  Aj.  Fl.   411.  Soph.   Electr.  1028.  and  Valck. 
Phoen.  550.  Hipp.  354. 

39.  'AXX'  ojuojc  are  words  frequently  employed  by  Euri- 
pides at  the  end  of  an  iambic  senary,  and  often  ridiculed 
by  Aristophanes.  Hipp.  358. 

40.  The  Greeks  said  irpiv  at  Bavtiv,  and  irpiv  av  av  Oavygy 
but  not  irpiv  av  at  Qavtiv.  Hipp.  365. 

41.  In  Attic  Greek,  instead  of  the  dual  feminine,  the 
masculine  is  used,  especially  in  articles  and  participles.   See 
Horn.  II.  6.  455.  Hipp.  389. 

42.  The  particle    wg  at  the  beginning    of    a    sentence 
preceding  an  optative  mood  signifies,  utinam,  I  wish,  or,  oh 
that!  See  II.  S.  107.  Hipp.  4-09. 

43.  <E>auXoe,  fjidraiog,  bpfyavoQ,  artppog,  ytvvaios,  Snca<oe, 
jut'Xeoe,  /3/oi'x'o?,  and  some  other  adjectives  are  declined, 
6  KCU  ?j  <j!mi>Xoe,  &c.  ;   and  also  ^ctuXof,   jj,  or.  Phil.  437. 

44.  The  interposition  of  the  words  TTWC  SoKtTt,-  ;  gives  ad- 
ditional  spirit   to  a   narrative.  See  Hec.  1150.  Ean.  53. 
Eccles.  399.  Hipp.  448. 

45.  'Srtpytiv  in  the  sense   of  acquiescing,   is  frequently 
found  —  for  the  most  part  with  an  accusative,  sometimes 
with  a  dative  case.  Hipp.  4(50. 

46.  "AvOpuiroQ  is  used  sometimes  to  denote  a  u-oiuait. 
See  Theocr.  Adoniaz.  106.  and   Valckenaer's  note.     JIvwo 
in  Latin  has  the  same  meaning.  Hipp.  474. 

•17.  Examples   of  (1)  the  double  comparative,   such  as 
poXXov  nXyuov,  and  (2)  of  the  double  superlative,  such  as 
t\Oi(TTog,  are  frequent  in  the  tragic  writers.    See 


THE   GRECIAN'    DRAMA.  455 

Hec.  381.  Sept,  Theb.  679.  Jfech.  Suppl.  287.  Med.  1320. 
Alcest.  802.  Hipp.  487. 

48.  The  forms  ticXyo-a,  KXg§E?,  K\ydpov,  for  sKXaorajk-Xttctc, 
K\tiOpov,  are  of  the  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  <j>p,  remains 
short ;  but  if  that  other  word  begins  with  /3X,  the  short 
vowel  is  made  long.  Hipp.  513. 

50.  The  prepositive  article  6,  ?j,  TO,  is  frequently  put  for 
the  relative  or,   i],  o,  not  only  in  Homer,  but  in  the  writings 
of  the  three-  tragedians.  Hipp.  527. 

51.  IlwXoe  was  said  by  the  Greeks  of  either  a  young  un- 
married man  or  woman.     [The  same  remark  applies  to 
<TKVfj.vo^t  juoo-xoe,  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  5)  irpoq 
<r£  yovuTwi',  the  pronoun  is  always  placed  between  the  pre- 
position and  the  noun  which  it  governs ;  and  the  verb  on 
which  the  pronoun  depends,   avrojucu,  (jci/ovjuai,   ticmuw,  or 
some  similar  word,  is  frequently  omitted.  Hipp.  603. 

54.  Fa/u/S/ooc  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,  7i>a,  a»e,  o^>pa,  &c.  to  the  preterimperfect, 
aorists,  or  preterpluperfect  tenses  of  the  indicative  mood, 
just  as  the  case  required.     This  construction  must  be  care- 


456  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

fully  distinguished  from  the  usage  of  we,  tVet,  &c.  with  the 
subjunctive  and  optative  moods.  They  could  say,  xprj  rrpoa- 
TroXov  ou  irtpav, — iV  t ^oiffi  /U77T6  .  .  .  i.  c.  that  they  ma y 
be  able  neither — .  They  could  say,  OVK  tiwv  irpoanoXov 
7rf/>a»', — tV  t\oitv  /UJ/TC  .  .  .  i.  e.  that  they  might  be  able 
neither — .  But  it  is  a  very  different  thing  to  say,  \P'iv 
7rp6a—o\ov  ov  irtpav — tV  tT\ov  /u»';r£  •  •  •  in  which  case  they 
would  be  able  neither— .  See  CE.  R.  1386.  1391.  P.  V.  158. 
774.  .OhoSph.  193.  Iph.-T.  354.  Pax.  135.  Eccles.  151. 
Hipp.  643. 

56.  "Ec  Tf,  signifying  as  long  as,  is  construed  with  an  in- 
dicative, t'c  rt  av  with  a  subjunctive  mood.  Hipp.  655. 

57.  Ei  av  no  where  occurs  in  the  same  member  of  a  sen- 
tence, much  less  when  joined  to  the  indicative  mood.  Hipp. 
67!). 

58.  floXAci  irpcKTueiv  is  said  of  one  who  meddles  with 
things  not  concerning  him.     There  is  a  similar  signification 
in  the  words  iro\VTrpajfji(tiv,  7ro\virpaynovtiv,  TroXvirpayfw- 
erui'j} — Trtptavu  irpaaativ.  Hipp.  785. 

59.  Otttipoi   were  persons  who  went  to  consult  the  ora- 
cles  of  the  gods   on  any  private  or  public  affairs.  Hipp. 
792. 

60.  UnQtwq  yrjpas  is  a  periphrastic  expression  for  "  the 
aged  Pittheus."     In  designating  persons,  the  tragic  writers 
[and  poets  generally]  frequently  employ  circumlocutions ; 
and  those  chiefly  which  expressed  soine  dignity  or  excel- 
lence, moral  or  personal.  Hipp.  794. 

6J.  Those  who  received  favorable  responses  from  the 
oracle  at  Delphi,  used  to  return  home  crowned  with  laurel. 
SeeCE.  E.  82.  Hipp.  806. 

62.  MatctcTToc:  is  used  by  the  poets  for  fitjiaror,  as 
is  for  ni%wv.  Hipp.  820, 


THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA.  457 

63.  —  Bi\ii  TI  <y)jjuf/i'(u  vtov  ;  these  euphemisms,  in  which 
KQKOV  is  understood,  are  very  frequent  in  the  tragic  writers. 
Hipp.  860. 

64.  "Saivuv  is  said  of  dogs,  who  \vag  their  tails  when  they 
fawn  on  men.       Hence  (raivttv  and  trpoaaa'ivuv  signify  to 
fawn  on,  to  plea.se,  to  flatter.  Hipp.  S(r6. 

6-5.  fl.ooe  in  the  sense  of  besides,  with  -ouro<c  understood, 
occurs  frequently,  a?  well  in -the  tragic  as  in  other  writers. 
See  Heracl.  642.  Phoen.  619.  800.  P.  V.  73.  Helen.  965. 
Hipp.  87-". 

6*».  'AirXtw  and  i^ai/rXtw  are  properly  said  of  exhausting 
by  means  of  an  airXoc  or  pump ;  and  metaphorically,  of 
completing  life.  In  the  same  sense  the  Latins  used  the 
derivative  exantlarc.  Hipp.  902. 

67.  No(TiTi»,   in  the  tragic   writers,   is  frequently  said  of 
those  who  labor  under  any  evil,  misfortune,  or  danger,  [and 
may  be  rendered,    u  to  be  distressed."]   Hipp.  937. 

68.  KaTrtjXtuw  denotes,  to  be  an  innkeeper;  and  thence, 
to  derive  gain  by  fraudulent  means.  See  Dr.  Blomf.  Sept. 
Theb.  55 1.   Hipp.  956.    7. 

69.  To  ^t'Xrara  is  frequently  used  by  Euripides  to  desig- 
nate a  parent,  a  husband,  a  wife,  or  children  ;  and  in  gene- 
ral may  be  translated,  the  dearest  objects  or  connexions. 
Hipp.  969. 

70.  The  Attics  form  the  crasis  of  o  avroc,  6  aw)o.  6  ai'«£, 
6  a-y&v,  o  ajaOo^,  b  trepof ,  by  ourt»c>   a'y/P>  a"ra^,   a'-yoji', 
&c.  Hipp.  100-5. 

71.  "A&KTOC  has  both  (1)  an  active  and  (2)  a  passive 
signification  :  (1)  Not  touching.     See  CE.  C.  1521.  (so  also 
etyftvdTOc,  CE.  1?.  968.)     (2)  Not  to  be  touched;   hallowed. 
See  Iph.  T.  709.     Again.  380.     The  same  remark  will  ap- 
ply to  aK\avaTor,  a<TrivaKTor,  Hipp.  LOOfr. 


458  THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

72.  OtKEiu  OIKOV  or  caf.iov  in  the  tragic  writers  signifies, 
to  be  the  master  of  a  house  or  family.  Hipp.  1014. 

73.  Xaipd)v  is  said  of  one  who  is  exempt  from  punish- 
ment, and  may  be  rendered,  with  impunity.     KA«u>i>  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  apapt,  not  o/orj/oE :  as 
also,  besides  the  instances  given  by  Person,  Orest.  26.  (see 
Class.  Journ.  No.  LXI.  p.  137.)  they  said  0aicoc,  and  its  com- 
pounds ;    yairovoQ,    yuiriTiiG,    yairiSov,    -ya/io/ooe,    yuTrorot;, 
ya'rojuoe,  Kapavov  and  its  compounds.    Hipp.  1093. 

75.  The  futures  ^EI)£OJU<U  and  QivZovfjuti  were  both  used 
by  the  tragic  writers.  Hipp.  1096. 

76.  The  ellipsis  of  the  preposition  crvv  is   very  common 
with  the  Greek  writers,   and  especially  when  the  dative  of 
the  pronoun  auroe  is  added.   See  II.  0.  24.  A.  698.  Y.  481. 
Hipp.  1184. 

77.  The  ^Eolic  and  Doric  form  ticpv^Otv  for  fKpv<f>Oi]<rav 
is  very  rarely  used  by  the  tragic  writers.  Hipp.  1242. 

78.  X/OEWV  in  the  sense  of  fate  or  necessity  is  indeclina- 
ble, and  always  requires  the.  article  in  Euripides.  Hipp. 
1261. 

79.  The  erases  in  the  words  77  tlcivat  and  JM»)  ti&vai  are 
not  uncommon  in  the  tragic  writers  ;    as  also  those  in  TJ  oi>, 
jurj  ou:  the  erases  JUJT)  auroc,  Iph.  T.  1010.  T)  otx<>|U£a0\  Soph. 
Trach.  84.  ?)  tvyiveiav,   Eur.  Electr.   1104.  are  more  unu- 
sual. Hipp.  1331. 

80.  Xatpw  sometimes  takes  after  it  an  accusative  of  the 
thing  for  which  the  rejoicing  takes  place; ;   the    figure   is 
called  an  Oropism.  Hipp.  1335. 

fsl.  The  Greeks  frequently  used  the  aorist  in  a  sense 


THE    GRECIAN  DRA.MA.  459 


little  differing  from  the  present,  as  UTTOV,  Med.  274.  uT 
Eur.  Suppl.  1170.  KaryKTtipa,  Iph.  A.  469.  $uw£a,  Med. 
787.  airiiTTvaa,   Hipp.  610?  Hipp.  1403. 

82.  The  present  tenses,  Oiyyavuv,  tpvyydvitv,  <j>vyyd- 
vt.iv,  Kiy\dvtiv,  Xay^a'pfiv,  Tvy\dvitv,  cdnviiv  (contracted 
from  Gayt:dvtiv),  Xa/jj3a'i>av,  fiavBdviiv,  TrvvBavtaOai.  are  de- 
rived from  the  aorists  Oiyilv,  tpvyttv,  (pvyilv.  Ki^ttv,  Xa\aV. 
rv\iiv,  SaiceTi',  XajSaV,  fiaOtiv,  irvOivOai,  by  the  insertion  of 
the  letters  v  or  /i.  To  these  may  be  added  avSdvtiv  from 
aSuv.  Hipp.  1442. 

So.  Kal  never  forms  a  cra>i<  \\ith.  nor  suffers  <'lisi<>n 
before.  JJ^TJ.  Hipp.  1445. 

84.  The  Greeks  had  four  forms  of  the  future  with  a  pas- 
sive signification,  (1)  rt/u/jwojucu,  (2)  /3tj3X?'j<rojuat,  (3)  |3A»j- 
&{}aofj.ai,  (4)  an-aXXayTjero/uat.  The  4th  form  is  not  very 
frequent  among  the  tragic  writers.  To  the  1st  form  the 
Attics  seem  to  have  been  partial  :  the  following  occur  in  the 
Greek  tragedians  :  Xtso^uat,  rj/u;)<ro/ua<,  a-tpi'iaofjia.i, 
fiai,  aXaxTOjucH,  tciaouat,  /uta/j<TOjUai,  aTvyi)ao/j.ai,  Sij 


Hipp.  14-5S. 

85.  ou  81)  x°^w^'c].     Here  ivtKa  is  understood.     The 
cause  of  hatred  is  expressed  by  a  genitive  case  without  a 
preposition.  See  Orest.  741.     Here.  F.  528.  1114.  II.  A. 
42D.  II.  320.  <P.  457.  Alcest.  5. 

86.  An  accusative  case  is  frequently  placed  in  opposition 
with  th<  ;/  implied  in  the  preceding  sentence  ;  as 
Orest.    1103.      EXa'»jv    Kra^to/wer.    MtrsXft^    XVTT>JV   iriKpar. 
See  Pheen.  351.     Androm.   291.  Here.   F.  59.  355.   427. 
Alcest.  7. 

87.  The  preposition  after  verbs  of  motion  to  is  frequently 
omitted.  Alcest  8. 


460  THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

88.  After  verbs  of  rescuing,  prohibiting,  and  denying, 
the  negative  /UT),  though  generally  expressed,  is  sometimes 
omitted;  as  ov  Oavtiv  ippvadnijt>.  Alcest.  11. 

89.  The  plural  rifjiai  is  used  in  the  sense  of  attributes, 
prerogatives.  Alcest.  30. 

90.  The  ancient  Greek  writers  never  joined  the  particle 
av  to  the  indicative  mood  of  either  the  present  or  perfect. 
Alcest.  48. 

91.  'le/ooc,  in  the  sense  of  consecrated  or  sacred  to,  re- 
quires a  genitive  case.  Alcest.  75. 

92.  In  anapaestic  verse  tho  penult  of  ftl\aOpov  is  always 
short.  Alcest.  77. 

93.  The  interrogative  iroOtv  has  the  force  of  a  negative. 
Alcest.  95. 

94.  In  sentences  where  two  nouns  joined  by  a  copulative 
are  governed  by  the  same  preposition,  the  preposition  is 
frequently  found  with  the  latter  noun. 

MAXwr  $£  TTt-jUTTEtV  fJL    OtSlTTOU  K\ttVO^ 

Mavrtia  <r£/Lti>u,  Ao^iou  r1  trr^  i 


Phoen.  290.  See  also  Heracl.  755.  CE.  11.   736.  761.  Soph. 
Electr.  780.  Sept.  Theb.  1034. 

95.  The  plural  forms  Koipavot,  avaKTtc,  /3a(T<Xttc,  rvpav- 
vot,  in  the  tragic  writers,  frequently  express  only  one  king, 
or  the  retinue  of  one  king.  Alcest.  132. 

96.  There  are  many  active  verbs  which  have  their  futures 
of  the  middle,   and  no  where  of  the  active  form,  at  least 
among  the  Attic  writer,*  :   thus,  OKOWW,  <rr/w,  O-IWTTW,  $£w, 
/Bow,  aaapravti},  OVIJGKW,  TT/TTTW,    icAa'ai,    TrXtw,  irviw,    have 
the  futures  aicov*o/jm,  ffiji'iaofi 

fjLapTi'iaofiai,  Bavovpai, 
r,  irvivaojim.  Alcest.  158. 


THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA.  461 

97.  Ou  never  form?  a  cra^is  with  ou,ro-e  so  a?  to  make 
ouTTore.  Alcest.  199. 

98.  In  the  choral  odes  the  sigtna  is  so:netini93  doubled  ; 
as,   Med.  832.  mfmeiuq&mv,  Enr,  Suppl.  .58.  vaaov,   Pers. 
.359.  /3a/oici<T«,  (E.  R.  1100.   o/)£(T(Ti/3ara,  Trach.  636.  jutV 
*av,  Aj.  Fl.  18.5.  Torero^  390.  oXtWac,    Philoct.   1163.  wt- 
Xa<y<rov.    Sophocles  uses  the  form  /j.taaog  twice  in  the  iambic 
senary;  viz.   Antig.  1223.  1236.  Alcest.  234. 

99.  It  is  very  doubtful  whether  the  Attic  writers  ever 
used  pt£d)  in  the  present  tense.  Alcest.  272. 

100.  ToXpqv  and  the  aorist  rAfjvat  signify,  to  endure,  in 
spite  of  (1)  danger,  i.  e.  to  have  courage ;    (2)  s/iame,  i.  e. 
to  have  the  impudence ;  (3)  pride^  i,  e.  to  deign,  condescend, 
submit ;    (4)  pain  of  mind,  i.  e.  to  prevail  on  oneself;    (-5) 
pity,  i.  e.  to  have  the  cruelty.  Alcest.  28-5.     The  uses  of 
posmm  are  similar. 

101.  "OSe  ow)pv  for  tyw,  is  a  well-known  formula.     The 
feminine   form  /JSt  and  ?"jSf  yvvii,  for  syw,   occurs  also  in 
Agam.  1447.  and •  Trach.  305.  Alcest.  341. 

102.  The  tragic  writers  were  partial  to  the  use  of  vcoatroi 
for  children.     See  Androm.  442.  Iph.  A.  1248.  Heracl. 
240.  Here.  F.  224.  982.  Alcest.  414. 

103.  'Airiurtlv  with  an  accusative  signifies,  to  renounce  ; 
with  a  dative,  to  fail  or  faint.  Alcest.  503. 

104.  With  verbs  of  motion,   the  Greeks  joined  a  future 
participle  denoting  the  object.  Alcest.  520. 

105.  The  tragic  writers  allowed  the  omission  of  the  aug- 
ment in  the  choral  odes.  Alcest.  599. 

106.  AlOrip  is  found  both  in  the  masculine  and  feminine 
gender.  Alcest.  610. 

107.  The  penult  of  00tW  and  fyQavu  \$:long  in  Homer, 
but  alwavs  short  in  the  Attic  writers.  Alcest.  638. 


•102  TFIR   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

108.  The  tragic  writers  were  partial  to  compounds,  such 
as  alSotypwv,  a\Ki<f>pwv,  (TiStj/oo^owi/,  &c.  Alcest.  678. 

109.  Gcoc  is  frequently  said  of  the  sun,  and  generally 
without  the  article.  See  Orest.  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 
Euraen.  Alcest.  762. 

111.  The  form  otSac,  for  the  common  oi<r0a,  is  not  very 
frequent.  Alcest.  796. 

112.  "AXXa  <rov  TO  fir)  (jtpaaai.     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,  fupog  TI  being  understood :  Ale. 
861.  Hec.  614.  Herod,  iii.  11.  Alcest.  861. 

114.  Twv  VTTO  yatac,   not  yaiav :   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  ptyai,  Cycl.  165. 
K/OWTTTOVTO,  Phcen.  1133.  KpvTTTovaiv,  Soph.  El.  826. 
Xon-,  (E.  R.  153.  Kartvxov,  <E.  R.  782.  Alcest.  922. 

116.  The  Greeks  said   VIKUV  JUO^T/V,  vtuqv  aywvo, 
atBXov.  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.     Et  jap  tl\ov  means,  oh  that  I 
had  !  a  yap  t'xo/jut,   oh  that  I  may  have  !  Alcest.  1091. 

118.  The  quantity  of  the  enclitic  wv  is  sometimes  long 
and  sometimes  short  both  in  the  tragic  and  comic  writers. 
Alcest.  1096. 


THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA,  4<>3 

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  hea\y 
reverses  of  fortune  to  the  envy  of  the  gods.    See  Pers.  367. 
Orest.  963.  Eur.  Suppl.  347.  Iph.  A.  1049.  Herod,  iii.  40. 
Alcest.  1154. 


THE   GRECIAN'    DRAMA. 


V. 

Canons  and  Remarks 
Collected  from  Elmsley,  Ponon,  Daices,  MattMce,  Major, 


1.  HarpMa  KOI  /itjrpoja  irti 

H.  Stephens  doubts  how  the  a  in  aVafoe  can  be  length- 
ened. It  is  made  long  in  this  place  on  account  of  the  crasis 
of  two  short  vowels,  a  and  t,  coalescing  into  one  long  a; 
in  the  same  manner  as  the  a  in  ra/ta,  for  TO.  t/ua,  in  &KUV 
for  afKwv,  &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  TOU  f  juou,  rou^too  should  be  written,  and 
not  rou  '/uo"-     $°  also  we  should  write  TaZtvpiifiaTa,  TOVTTI- 
ovro£,  rana,  TWjutjJ,  Tirjjuaurou,  not  ra  '^tUjO/jjUara,  TOU  V<ov- 
roc,  ra  Va?  rt?  V1??  T'J  Vawr°5-     I"  every  crasis  of  two 
syllables,  the  iota  of  the  former  syllable  is  elided  ;   thus  rap 
and  TOjoa,   for  rot  av  and  rot  apa.     80  also,  for  ot  spot  an<l 
at  Iftat,  not  ot  'pot  and  at  '/xat,  but  ovpm  and  ajuot  shoidd  be 
written.     Elmsley  Prjefcit.  in  (Edip.  'Jyr.  10-11. 

3.  Nothing  is  more  rare  among  the  Attic  poets  than  the 
elision  of  the  vowel  «  before  av  ;   tyi0*"/''  uv  so' 

foimd  more  than  ten  times  as  often  as  liypnifr'  av 
Elm.  Med.  416. 

4.  The  diphthong  cannot  be  elided  in  roi,  but  it  renders 


THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA.  465 


the  vowel  long  by  crasis  ;  as,  'YTrotmvoi  /ulvr'  av  6 
Xtwc-     This  occurs  especially  in  rot  apa  and  roi  av. 

5.  The  Attica,  according  to  Person,  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  Prsefat.  ad 
Bacch.  pp.  50-5-5. 

(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,  lytvovro  An$q  0£<r- 
TiaSt  r/3£tc  Trapdtvot. 

(2).  A  verb  of  consequence,  in  which  the  addition  of  the 
augment  does  not  make  an  anapaest,  placed  in  the  begin- 
ning of  a  verse,  may  be  without  the  augment  :  as  afyrjas 
S'  alOi'ip' 

(3).  The  same  kind  of  verb,  if  it  begins  a  sentence,  may 
want  the  augment  in  the  middle  of  a  verse  :  as,  yvf.ivovvro  ce 


(4).  A  verb  of  less  consequence,  whether  the  addition  of 
the  augment  makes  an  anapaest  or  not,  placed  in  the  begin- 
ning of  a  verse,  if  it  is  extended  beyond  the  first  foot,  wants 
the  augment  :  as,  yoaro'  OwvKtv. 

(5)  The  same  kind  of  verb,  if  it  does  not  reach  beyond 
the  first  foot,  as  it  would  be  inharmonious  without  the  aug- 
ment, is  either  avoided,  or  changed  with  another  form. 

6.  When  the  first   part  of  a  sentence  designates,    not 
what  has  been  done,  but  what  ought  to  be  done,  the  parti- 
cles tva,  a»c5  oTTtoc?  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.  Person  has  remarked  that  the  tragic  writers  have  not 

H   H 


THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

universally  observed  Dawes"  well-known  rule,  viz.  "  that  the 
optative  with  the  particles  we,  tva,  OTTO)?,  o^/oa,  /ur),  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  (historicum)  is  put  for  the  aorist,  as  in  the  Latin 
also,  the  conj.  imperf.  follows  the  present.  Matth.  Gr.  Gr. 
S.  518. 

8.  Ov  /u£V£ie,  with  a  note  of  interrogation,  is  the  same  as 
fjitvt ;  will  you  not  stay  ?  that  is,  stay ;  ov  /ury  ju£i>£ie,  will  yon 
not  not  stay  ?  i.  e.  will  you  not  go  away  ?  same  as 

Ov  /UTJ  /u£V£ie  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  ov  /ui) 

the  former  is  the  same  as  JUT)  JUE'VE,  the  latter  the  same  as  ov 

/u£v«Te.     Elmsley  in  Med.  v.  1120. 

9.  Dawes  says  that  the  particles  ov  /ur)  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  /ui)  with  the 
future  belongs  to  one  who  forbids,  with  the  subjunctive  to 
one  who  denies.     Thus,  ov  /UT)  y/oa^ae  is  equivalent  to  /ui) 
ypa^e,  but  ov  JUTJ  ypd^yg  to  ov  ypaifjeig.     Ov  JUT)  is  construed 
with  the  future  indicative  either  of  the  active  or  middle 
form.     Elmsley  in  CEdip.  Col.  vv.  1 77.  1024. 

10.  The  tragic  writers  frequently  join  irplv  with  the  sub- 
junctive, omitting  civ,  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  may  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,   vfi  Am,   v>)  rov  Ata,   ;ua  A/'a, 
ov  pa  Ata,  vj)  TOV  'ATToXXw,  &c.  the  particle  75  never  follows, 
unless  after  the  interposition  of  another  word.      Person. 
Adversaria,  p.  83. 

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. 

Nai  TT/ooe  <re  rfje  ffJje  St£mc  tuojXtvov. 

And  Virgil,  imitating  them.  Mn.  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  Se,  another 
word  being  sometimes  interposed,  and  sometimes  not.  Por- 
son.  Orest.  1234. 

14.  The  conjunctions  KOI  and  &  do  not  occur  in  the  same 
member  of  a  sentence,  in  the  writers  of  the  tragic  age. 
Person,  ad  Orest.  614. 

15.  The  Attics  never  conjoin  7!  TE,  ri  76,  7?  /UEV,  aXXa 
/U77v.  Person,  ad  Med.  863. 

1 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,  Se,  /uk', 
TC,  Tte,  or  the  last  syllable  of  a  word.     Elmsley. 

1 7.  Sophocles  alone  shortened  the  second  syllable  in  r\iiiv 
and  v/jiiv.     That  he  did  forty-two  times  in  the  diverbial 
parts  of  all  his  plays.     It  is  found  long  in  seven  verses, 
which  Porson   thinks  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  fy«v,  v/iii/,  or  T^UIV, 
v/jLiv ;  the  latter  form  is  preferred  by  Brunck,  and  the  more 
modern  editors.  Elmsley.  Prsef.  ad  (Ed.  Tyr.  p.  10. 

18.  The  verbs  aTroXavw,  UKOVW,  a'Stu,   &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  veni,  or  admm. 
Dawes. 

20.  The  middle  verb  \lirsaQai  does  not  admit  an  accusa- 
tive after  it.  Dawes. 

21.  There  is  no  second  future  active  or  middle  in  Greek, 
TVTTOI  and  rviroifjn  are  the   second  aorist  subjunctive  and 
optative ;   TUTTOUJUCU  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  aaw,  tcrw,  cw, 
tW»,  and  offtu,  and  the  middle  in  aao/iat,  tao/j.ai,  cojum,  to-o- 
/uai  and  oaojucu ;   as,   £Aa<rw,    aywvtaojuat,   &c.  which  forms 
are  adapted  to  dactylic  verse,  which  the  lonians  preferred : 
the  Attics,  after  a  short  syllable,  in  place  of  arro>,  eaw,   tw 
and  oo-w,  write  w ;   for  aaojucu,  wjuai ;   for  eaojuat,  to^uat ;  for 

t,  oujucu  ;  for  TCTW,  tw  ;  and  for  UTOJUCU,  tov/mt ;  as  tAw, 
;  which  forms  are  adapted  to  iambics  and  tro- 
chaics,  which  the  Attics  preferred :  after  a  long  syllable  no 
change  was  made  ;  thus  ^opraaw,  a|07ra<TOjuat,  &c.  &c.  are 
common  to  both.  Dawes. 

22.  4>uAao-(Tw,  in  the  active  voice,  signifies  servare,  custo- 
dire ;  in  the  middle,  cavere.     Dawes. 

23.  The  verbs  ovra&u  and  /BaXAw  arc  more  frequently 


THE   GRECIAN'    DRAMA.  469 

joined  with  only  one  accusative  of  the  person  ;  as  also  the 
verb  automat ;  sometimes  with  two  accusatives,  one  of  the 
person,  the  other  of  the  word  tXico? ;  but  never  with  the 
dative.  II.  E.  361.  Dawes. 

24.  The  verb  apto-rato,  with  all  its  family,  always  makes 
long  the  first  syllable.  Dawes. 

2-x  In  forming  patronymics,  the  termination  oc  or  ou  of 
the  genitive  is  changed,  after  a  short  syllable,  into  tSij?, 
after  a  long  into  taSijc-  Dawes. 

26.  Neither  XaVav,  nor  EjcXtfrrai',  in  the  Attic  writers, 
signifies  to  le  deficient ;  but  iXXtiVttv.     Dawes. 

27.  Not  the  active  verb  airoSiSovai,  but  the  middle 
£o<70a(,  signifies  to  sell.     Dawes. 

28.  Not  the  active  verb  tvptiv,  but  the  middle 
denotes  what  is  expressed  by  the  Latin  nancisci,  adipiscL 
Dawes. 

29.  The  first  aorist  active  or  middle  of  the  verb  ivpiatiu  is 
not  in  use.     Dawes. 

30.  The  Attics  express  the  Latin  quodlibet  by  TTOI/,  not 
by  TO  irav.     Dawes. 

31.  'EKKaXtTv  signifies  evocare  ;  iKKaXtlaOaiy  ad-se-evocare. 
Dawes. 

S'2.  It  was  not  lawful  for  the  Attic  poets  to  elide  any 
diphthong,  or  to  use  the  verb  tSov  without  an  augment,  or 
to  employ  the  verb  latrat  at  all.  Dawes. 

33.  The  Attics  used  no  future  active  of  the  verb  o/uw/ut ; 
they  used  the  middle  O/JOU/UCH.     Dawes. 

34.  Though  Trtvojuat  in  Homer,  sometimes  signifies  parare^ 
in  the  Attic  writers  it  never  signifies  any  thing  but^aw^- 
rem  esse  ;   nor  does  it  ever  govern  the  accusative.     Dawes. 

35.  The  Attic  writers  never  used  ?i'w,  always  £uo.  Dawes. 

36.  The  pronoun  6£e  is  generally  used  on  the  appearance 


470  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

of  a  new  character  on  the  stage,  and  has  the  force  of  oi§£  or 
Stvpo.     Elmsley. 

37.  When  $tv,  iisv,  to,  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. 
Person. 

38.  The  vowel  in  on  never  suffers  elision  in  the  comic 
writers.     Person. 

39.  Ei£??e  comes  from  tt'Sw  video,  eiSjj?  from  clSew  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,   ttfiiyapTa  KCIKMV,  ol  xpjjaroi  TWV  avOpuTrwv- 
Matthise. 

41.  The  particles  KOI  /IT/I/  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  unfrequently  by  the  Attic 
poets,  in  a  dependent  proposition  after  oloB'1  o ;  as,  olaff1  ovv 
o  Spavov  ;  the  phrase  seems  to  have  arisen  from  a  transpo- 
sition, for  Spcurov,  olceff1  o.     Matth. 

43.  Adjectives  which  have  an  active  sense,  and  are  mostly 
derived  from  verbs  active,  or  correspond  to  them,  expivs* 
their  relation  to  an  object,  which  with  the  verbs  would  be 
in  the  accusative,  by  the  genitive ;  as,  Kap&a 

TI)V  nap&av)  that  afflict  the  heart.     Matth. 


THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA.  471 


44.  Tdii>  TiOvijuoTuv  a\tg.    Hec.  278.     Dawes  has   re- 
marked that  aXiQ  is  never  construed  with  a  genitive  in 
Homer. 

45.  The  Greek  term  (jn\(jiruTptg  was  nearly  synonymous 
with  0tXo7roXic,  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 
^iXlXXrjv.     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  jSt'rj  'HpatcXTjEtJ/,  ooTrcp.     Porson. 

47.  AUTOC  without  the  article  does  not  mean  idem,  but 
ipse  ;   Stephens  cites  WUTOC,  but  I  have  edited  avrog  from 
the  rule  laid  down  by  Dawes,  and  from  analog}'.     Porson. 

48.  A  negative  frequently  usurps  the  place  of  an  interro- 
gative ;  as  in  Hec.  296.  tltv  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  TTQC,  precedes.     Hence 
also,  in  this  case,  oarte,   or  oq  av  is  commonly  put.     Vide 
II.  n.  621.  Hec.  359.     Matth. 

50.  The  future  for  the  conjunctive  is  the  regular  con- 
struction after  OTTWC,  which  indeed  takes  the  present,  the 
aor.  1  •  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  6/oa, 
cave,   is  omitted.     In  the  passages  where  the  aor.  1.  conj. 
still  remains  after  OTTWC,  one  or  other  of  the  MSS.,  or  edi- 


472  THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

tions,  generally  has  the  future.    But  OTTWC  civ,  that^  takes 
the  conj.  and  aor.  1.  act.     Matth. 

51.  EtjUi  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. 
roKevcrtv,  the  mother.     Matth. 

53.  When  any  one  wishes  to  dissuade  another  from  any 
thing  by  entreaties,  /x?)  <ru  ye  is  very  commonly  used  with  the 
omission  of  the  verb  preceding.     Hec.  408.    Matth. 

54.  The  Greeks  always  said  xae'/0(U»  an^  no^  X0'?0/*6"' 
Hence  xaipojuat  for  ^aipta  is  a  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  : 
'<Qe  rjSo/zai,  KCU  TfjOTrojuai,  KOI  \aipofjiai.     Person. 

55.  AVM  has  the  first  syllable  common  in  Homer ;  long 
in  the  tragic  writers.    The  first  syllable  of  icaAoc  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  euva ;  as, 
0£pa7ro>v,  Otpairatva.     Major. 

59.  The  first  aorist  in  Greek,  and  the  perfect  in  Latin, 
frequently  have  the  force  of  soko,    Hec,  596.   Hor.  Od.  1. 
34.    Major. 


THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA.  473 

60.  The  word  TrtVXoe  is  applicable  both  to  the  Ifiariov, 
the  outer  loose  and  flowing  garment ;  and  to  the  \ITWV,  the 
inner  and  close-fitting  vest :    but   more  peculiarly  to   the 
former,  which  the  Lacedaemonian  virgins  alone  wore.    See 
Virg.  ./En.  1.  315.     In  the  festival  of  the  UavaOnvaia^  the 
sacred  TrtVXoe  was  carried  to  the  citadel,  and  put  upon  Mi- 
nerva's statue.     This  TrtTrXoc  was  woven  by  a  select  number 
of  virgins  called  "'EpyaaTtKoi,  from  f/ayov,  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 
ct£toi  TreVXou,  i.  e.  worthy  to  be  pourtrayed  in  Minerva's 
sacred  garment.     Potter. 

61.  In  prohibitions  with  /i»),  or  an  adj.  or  adv.  com- 
pounded with  /uij,  the  aor.  is  put  in  the  conjunctive,  and  not 
the  present.  Hec.  959.     Matth. 

62.  For  £te,   when  it  expresses  a  proper  motion,  <I>c  is 
often  put,  generally  with  living  objects,  seldom  with  inani- 
mate things.     This  usage  probably  arose  from  the  circum- 
stance of  we  and  el?  being  often  joined.     Matth. 

63.  In  negative  propositions,  the  conj.  is  used  after  HTJ  or 
ou  pi]  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. 

6-L  77  and  /u>)  before  ou  always  form  a  crasis  in  iambic 
verse.     Major. 

65.  The  Attics  frequently  add  yt  after  iceu  firjv,  ov  /xjjv, 
ictuYof,  etc.,  but  with  something  intervening.     Porson. 

66.  The  Attics  sometimes  use  yuj'jTrw  for  /z/jTrors,  by  the 
figure  Xtrortjf .     Km  and  Se  cannot  stand  in  the  same  clause 
of  a  sentence.     Porson. 


474  THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA. 


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.  'A7njy£aTo,  he  hanged  himself \ 

2.  Qiifjiu^tv  <§'  6  yipwv,  ja^>aX?jv  S1  oyt  Ko^aro  \tpatv. 

Iliad.  X.  S3. 

II.  Where  A  does  the  act  on  some  other  object  M,  rela- 
tively to  himself  (in  the  sense  of  the  dative  case  put  acquisi- 
tively), and  not  for  another  person,  B. 

1.  A  KctTEdr/o^aro  rbv  MrjSov. 

He  made  the  Persian  subject,  or  subdued  him,  to  himself. 
A  KartoTpeifje  rov  MJjSov  ry  B.  res  prorsus  alia* 

2.  To  this  usage  belongs  the  following  : 

Kotvy  a7TO)<rajU£voi  rov  BapjSapov.  Thucyd.  1. 18,  et  similia. 

III.  Where  A  gets  an  act  done  for  himself,  or  for  those 
belonging  him  by  B. 

1.  Of  Chryses  it  is  said,  XVCTOJUCVOC  Ovyarpa,  to  get  his 
daughter  released  ly  Agamemnon,  on  the  payment  of  a  ran- 
som, that  is,  briefly,  to  ransom  his  daughter. 


THE  <rRBCULX   DRAMA  475 

Whereas  of  Agamemnon  it  is  said,  Ov«T  airiAwrt  flvyorpa, 
sc.  Ttjj  X/ow<ry.  He  did  not  grant  the  release,  he  did  not  re- 
lease her. 

So  too  Ghryses  to  the  Greeks,  JluTca  <T  j/uoi  Xu<rmTf  ^tXrjv. 

To  this  head  may  be  appended,  ci^a^aaBai  row  utov,  /o  <;<?# 

mis  son  instructed.     Euripides   has   said,   with  a  double 

idiom,  Medea,  v.  297.  Tfaii^aq  trigitTObiq  tKcicayKtaOai 

'2.  Aavc/^w,  to  give  a  loan*  to  tend,  as  A  to  B. 

Aavi('£ojuaf,  to  get  a  loan,  to  famtc,  as  A  from  B. 
So  too  in  the  epigram,  XP^<"«C,  faring  lent ; 
oorrotced. 
Avfpa  TIG  Xtrroyuiov  vTrip  vtLroio  \twairy  fa 


Again  X)°ij<Tai,  /o  tt^r  a  response;  \pi]<ja<jOai,  to  seek  a 
response,  to  consult  an  oracle. 

IV.  Where,  in  such  verbs  as  Kwrro^at,  ^«<7*0,  <rtvojua/, 
Ti'XAojuai,  &c.  the  direct  action  is  done  by  A  on  himself; 
but  an  accusative  or  other  case  follows  of  B,  whom  that 
action  farther  regards. 

1.         .......      etirep  av  airrov 

Sfvwrrat  ra\«c  TS  KVVZQ.  K.  r.  X.     Iliad.  F.  25. 

Although  fleet  dogs  stir  themselves  in  pursuit  of  Aim. 


.     .  Z.  133.     .     .  re*  promts  alia. 

Again, 

IIiOcIiTat  rov  y1  aXo\[oc  T*  ^1X17  icat  irdrvta  ju^rnp 

TtXA£'<r0r,v.     Q.  710.  11. 
7or0  their  hair  in  mowmtn^r  owr  AMI. 

But  Kftoofiai  is  diiferently  used.     Bion  has  utipainivoi  \ai- 

c  ET'  'Acwi/ict.  not  "ASa/vtv. 

To  this  da?s  belong  ^uXarra;  and  ^uXarro/zai. 

rou  iratea.  —  4>vXa£a<r#ai  TOV  X/ovra, 


476  THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

And  so  too  the  following  : 


ov  iraiSog  opl^aro 
Stretched  out  Ms  arms  to  receive  his  son. 
Thus  far  the  reflexive  uses  :  now  the  reciprocal  use. 

V.  Where  the  action  is  reciprocal  betwixt  two  persons, 
or  parties,  and  A  does  to  B  what  B  does  to  A. 

As  in  verbs  of  contract,  quarrel,  war,  reconciliation,  and 
the  like  : 

Eu)g  av  Sia\v<T(jjfjitOa  TOV  TroAc/uov.  Demosth.  Philip.  A. 
§.  6.  —  Till  we  shall  have  put  an  end  to  the  war  in  which 
we  are  engaged  with  Philip^  by  treaty  mutually  agreed 
upon. 

In  a  very  different  sense,  as  follows,  is  $ia\vaai  used  : 
Ila/arjvH  Se  ('AAi«|3taSrje)  KOI  TOJ  Ti(rcFa<f>ipvy  JUT?  ayav  lirdyta- 
Oai  TOV  TToAE/uov  SmAucTcu.     Thucyd.  vni.  §.  46.  —  To  oe  in  no 
hurry  to  put  an  end  to  the  war  between  the  two  conflicting 
parties  in  Greece. 

Memark.  —  Though  on  some  occasions  the  active  voice  is 
used  where  the  middle  would  be  proper,  that  is,  where  the 
act  is  denoted  without  relation  to  the  agent,  though  there 
does  exist  a  middle  verb  so  to  denote  'it,  yet  where  the  two 
voices  exist  in  actual  use,  the  middle  denoting  the  action 
relatively  to  the  agent,  as  in  No.  II.,  is  very  seldom,  if  ever, 
in  pure  Attic  used  to  denote  the  action  when  it  regards 
another  person.  E.  g.  'laravat  Tpuiraiov  may  be  said  of  an 
army  who  erect  their  own  trophy  ;  for  it  is  true,  as  far  it 
goes  —  they  do  erect  a  trophy.  But  tar^aTo  rpoiraiov  can- 
not be  said  of  him  who  erected  a  trophy  for  others,  but 
torriaiv  only.—  Mus.  Grit.  No.  1.  pp.  102—104. 

VI.  Verbum  rvTrrojuai  videtur  ex  tribus  elemcntis  confla- 
tum  earn  primitus  habuisse  naturam,  quam  lingua  Anglicana 
sic  effert  simpliciter,  I  STRIKE  ME  ;   deinde  in  eum   usum 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  477 

abiise,  ut  signlficaret,  I  GET  A  BLOW,  i.  e.  not  GIVE  OXE  ;  de- 
nique  sumpsisse  vim  pure  passivara. 

Hanc  conjecturam  confinnat  Latinae  linguse  ratio;  quse 
apud  poetas  certe  verba  passiva  cum  vocibus  vi  media  prse- 
ditis  passim  penuutat. 

^En.   i.  587.  scindit,  se,    n.  39,  scinditur : 
n.401.  conduntur,    ix.  39,  condunt,  se : 
—  707.  imponere,      h.   e.     import,  te,  &c. 
Glasgoio  Greek  Grammar,  p.  59,  4th  Ed.  1834.  J.  T. 
Burnouf  in  his  excellent  French  Grammar  of  the  Greek 
tongue,  at  p.  268,  has  this  very  appropriate  observation  : 

En  Fran£ais  merne,  nous  voyons  le  verbe  reflechi  employe 
dans  le  sens  passif :  "  Les  histoires  ne  se  liront  plus."  BOS- 
SUET,  that  is,  will  not  le  read. 

VII.  While  the  middle  verbs,  of  TTOIW  and  r/flrjjut,  for  in- 
stance, 'are  requisite,  to  indicate  the  talcing  or  considering 
of  any  object  in  such  or  such  a  light,  &c. ;  some  other  verbs, 
such  as  aytu,  Xa/u/3avw,  in  the  active  form  so  called,  are 
found  with  a  similar  acceptation. 

Iph.  Aul.  607. 

"OpviOa  fj.lv  roS'  aiffiov  7rmoi''jU£0a,  K.  T.  X. 
We  take  this  as  an  auspicious  omen,  fyc. 
PlKEn.  872.     'Otwvov  lOtpi/iv  KaXXiviica.  <ra  (rrl^tj. 
/  consider  as  a  good  augury  the  victorious  garland  you  wear. 
Antigone,  34.     TO  irpayfjC  a-yav  J  oi»^  we  Trap'  ov$tv. 
Thucyd.  B.  §.  42.     Trjy  TWV  Ivavritiiv  rtuwpiav  TroOuvoTt- 
pav  aurwi;  Xa/3ovr£c. — Having  regarded  the  humbling  of  their 
adversaries  as  afar  more  desirable  object,  $c. 

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  opai  have  the  province  otmind  and 
its  concerns  instead. 


478  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 


Thus  II.  A.  607,  8.     Sw/ua  —  -"H^atoroe  7rooj<m>. 
But  Thucyd.  B.  §§.  42,  4. 

'        O    "\  v  •*    *>  -'          f 

ai>apoAjjv  rov  ctivov  iTronjanro. 

Ue  thought  of  delaying  or  eluding  the  danaer. 

So  too,  II.  A.  433. 

loTia.  n\v  trrc/Aavro,   Qiaav  $  tv  v»jt  fif\atv\i- 
Prom.  V.  247.     Ovnrovg  S"1  tv  OIKTM  trpoOtptvos. 

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,  Xc'^a,  thou  shalt  be  reckoned  ;  but  never  »7p£aju»]v, 
7  was  ruled,  nor  typa^aro,  it  was  written. 

S.  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  per  son  A  ; 
while  its  common  use  prevails  more,  de  re. 

II.  A.  238,    9         .       .       *       «       SlKaaTToAot,    Ot  T£  OtflHTTCtQ 


TT/OOC     toe  tpvarat. 
A.  248.          ......     tvOa  re 


.  e.  ftpvarai  =  ftpvvTai. 
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.  479 

Thus,   II.  A.  531.  Tory1  01?  |3ovXev(Tavr£  S(tr//<ry£v. 

Hecuba,  1090.  irol  rpaTrofjuat ;  irol  iroptvdw  ; 
Medea,    1241.     /urjS'  ava^vr/aflpe  TIKVWV. 

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  I  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  ''laovtQ.  'laovce  is  applied  to  the  Athe- 
nians by  jEschylus.] 

(2).  The  Doric,  spoken  in  the  mountainous  parts  of 
Greece,  particularly  those  in  Peloponnesus.1 

(3).  The  jflolic,  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  Codrus — 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.  The  Middle.  The  New. 

Under  this,  Aristophanes,  Xenophon, 

Thucydides,  Plato,  Menander, 

^Sschylus,  Philemon, 

Sophocles,  Isocrates, 

Euripides,  Demosthenes, 

^Eschines, 
and  the  other  orators. 


THE   GRECIAN  DRAMA.  481 

The  tragedians  used  an  older  cast  of  language  than  was 
employed  by  the  Attics  in  their  common  writings.  Hence 
we  find  the  Ionic  forms,  juouvoe,  Ksivog,  Soupt,  OuXu/zTroc, 
<5cc.  ./Eschylus,  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  lonians  delighted  hi  the  dactylic  or 
heroic  measure,  while  the  Attics  were  more  partial  to  the 
iambic  and  trochaic. 

Ionic.  Attic. 

£<TU)-O<T<O-a<TO)  U> 

KftXtatO  KttXdi 

vfj.6aou.at  uij.ovfj.ai. 


icojutcu 

IXao-to  cXai 

In  these  cases  ^^-  («/o!w)  is  cut  down  into  the  v- 
But,  when  the  antepenult  is  long  by  position,  the  Attica 
retain  the  Ionic  form.  So  both  Attics  and  Ionics  say  x°P~ 
racrw,  cuSltroyUcn,  &c.  because  it  suits  either  the  w-,  or  -v, 
or  —  ^v,  or  wvx-. 

Ionic.  Attic. 


-acro/uat 


N.  B.  A  short  syllable  precedes  these  contractions, 

-i£)  iov/j.ai 


<j>pOVTlff(t)  < 

I  I 


482  THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

without  reference  to   the  preceding  syllable,  as  in   %op- 

TCHHi). 

The  Ionics  discarded  the  augment — the  Attics  never, 
except  in  the  case  of  \pr\v  and  l\pr\v,  which  are  used  pro- 
miscuously. [See  Person's  Preface  to  the  Hecuba.] 

Old  Attic.  New  Attic. 

pa  and  aof  pp  and  TT 

Oapaog  Opaaof; 

OaXaacra  OaXarTa 

The  New  Attics  disliked  the  S.  Hence  Euripides  is  ri- 
diculed for  his  myfjiaTicffJiaTa, 

tSwSa  S\  wS  iSaSiv  'E\\r,vwv  oSot.  Med.  475. 
where  the  letter  S  is  repeated  seven  times.  Sophocles  has 
a  line  where  the  letter  T  occurs  eight  times  ;  which  is  not 
remarked  by  Aristotle.  Person  observes,  that  there  is  in 
Euripides  a  line  more  remarkable  than  the  one  just  quoted. 
It  is  this  : 

TO  Sw/xa  SwSaS,  rouS  Xo7ouS  SwSetS  IjuouS. 

Iph.  Taur.  772. 

Here  the  S  is  repeated  ten  times.     In  Sophocles, 
wS  raS  aSe'X^aS  raSSs  raS  fjuaS  Xf'i°aS-    (Ed-  Rex'  1481' 
the  letter  occurs  as  often  as  in  the  passage  given  from  the 
Medea.     And  so  in  (Ed.  Rex,  425. 

[N.  B.  nomen  aryjuct  indeclinabile  est.] 

(2).  The  Doric  became  gradually  refined  to  a  degree  of 
sweetness  that  no  other  dialect  ever  attained.  [The  Doric 
is  to  the  Attic  what  the  Scotch  is  to  the  English, — in  songs, 
ballads,  and  the  like.]  The  drama  originated  in  the  moun- 
tainous parts  of  Greece :  hence  a  slight  cast  of  the  Doric 
remained  in  the  choral  odes, — only  slight,  when  compared 
with  Theocritus  or  Pindar ;  [perhaps,  confined  entirely  to 


THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA.  483 

the  changing  of  »j  into  a,  and  this  too  only  under  certain 
conditions.] 

(3).  The  jEotic  was  earned  over  into  Asia  from  Pelo- 
ponnesus :  from  whence  it  spread  among  some  of  the 
islanders  off  the  Asiastic  coast,  particularly  Lesbos.  Hence 
used  by  Sappho  and  Alcaeus. 

"We  learn  that  Homer  was  translated  into  different  dia- 
lects. Hence  has  arisen  the  difficulty  of  accounting  for  his 
particular  dialects,  [all  three  remaining,  in  consequence,  in 
some  degree  mixed.] 

From  the  ^Eoh'c  sprung  the  Latin.  Evander  emigrated 
into  Italy  before  the  Trojan  war,  and  transported  thither 
the  language  of  Arcadia  (the  ^Eolic),  which,  mixed  with 
the  original  Tuscan,  (something  like  the  Celtic),  formed  the 
basis  of  the  Latin  language. 

The  article  was  seldom,  if  ever,  used  by  the  earlier 
Greeks,  as  appears  from  Homer.  [Yet  avrap  'O  avOt 
Qvtar1  'A.  8.  <f>.  and  several  others  in  the  passage  about  the 
sceptre.]  Hence  its  disuse  in  the  Latin  language. 

One  of  the  principal  advantages  which  the  Greek  lan- 
guage has  over  the  Latin  is  in  the  article  ; 

OTpCLTOV, 


TOV  or/oarou, 
TOV  ar/jarou, 
tlie  leader  of  an  army, 
a  leader  of  an  army. 
t/ie  leader  of  the  army, 
a  leader  of  the  army, 

all  of  which  differ  in  meaning,  but  can  only  be  represented 
in  Latin  by  dux  exercitus. 

The  augment  seems  to  have  been  seldom  used  by  the 
earlier  Greek  writers,  and  therefore  by  those  who  wrote  in 


484  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 


the  ^EoHc  dialect  ;  the  reduplication  often.  This  is  another 
proof  of  the  two  languages  being  akin  to  each  other.  The 
Latins  have  e^cldi,  —  cecidl,  —  cwcurri,  &c.  Other  charac- 
teristics are, 

JEolic  i}  into  a 
Doric  rj  into  a 
Hence  from  vvju^rj         vuju^a         nympha, 

$r)fii\  ^ajua  fama. 

Our  account  of  the  JEolic  dialect  arises  principally  from 
certain  of  the  ancient  grammarians,  who  possessed  accounts 
of  them  from  writings  lost  to  us. 

The  ^Eolic  is  mostly  destitute  of  aspirates  :  and  the  same 
is  very  nearly  the  case  with  the  oldest  Latin. 

The  three  labials,  three  palatals,  and  three  dentals  are 
easily  commutable.  And  so  in  English  :  for  mother,  Chaucer 
wrote  moder,  and  for  murder,  Shakspeare  and  other  English 
authors,  murther. 

Till  the  time  of  Simonides  and  Epicharmus,  c  and  o  were 
promiscuously  used  for  i\  and  u>  ;  for  0,  rH  ;  for  ^,  icH  ;  for 
0,  TrH  ;  for  £,  KCT  ;  for  £,  §a  ;  and  for  i£,  TTCT. 
Latin.  Greek. 

ambo,  aju^w 

nebula,  ve<j>i\ii 

alibi 
guberno, 

angulus,  ayicvAov 

Deus,  6eoc 

inde,  tvBev 

lateo,  (\aOov  [Xa0£o>] 

misceo,  t/mictyov 

fremo, 
triumphus, 
purpureus, 


THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA.  485 

The  retention  of  the  F  in  the  Latin,  shows  the  traces 
of  the  ^Eolic  in  that  language.  In  some  degree  it  supplied 
the  place  of  the  aspirate.  It  is  expressed  in  Latin  by  D, 
sometimes  by  S. 

Latin. 

sylva, 

jovuin,  etiFujv 

avernus,  aFopvog 

boves, 

divus, 

video, 

viginti,  FtKon  (old  form) 

venter, 

vestis, 

vesper, 

ver, 

vesta,  Ftorta 

See  Dr.  Valpys  Greek  Grammar. 
Other  forms  are  deduced  by  interchange  of  consonants,  &c. 

Latin.  Greek. 

vulgus,  o^Xoc  [07X0?,  oX-yoc,  FoXyoe] 

num.  fj.wv 

forma,  A40/0^') 

lac,  70X0 

dulcis,  yXuicvc 

tener,  rtprjv 

ab,  OTTO 

sub,  FUTTO 

super,  Fvirtp 

tunica,  \ITWV 

animus,  ave/uoc                  hearts  Hood.) 

mens,  /utVoc     (used   in    Homer  for 


486 


THE   GRECIAN  DRAMA. 


somnus, 

veni,  rivQov  (ji\6ov) 

quattuor,  \cattuor,  ut 

cottidie  pro  guotidieJ]  Ken-opee,  ^Eolic  for  riaaapig. 
f;  ill  (i,  <T(f)G.\A(t) 

unus,  tvog 

legunt,  \iyovri  (Xiyovai) 

legimus, 
sunt, 

Principal  changes  are : 

Latin  Greek 

terminations.  terminations. 

us  from  og 

um  ov 

am  av 


(overt,  tovri)  OVTI, 


THB   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 


487 


Dialect  of  the  Tragedians. 
From  the  German  of  C.  G.  Haupt  : 


"  VOHSCHCLE    ZCM    STUDIl'M    DER    CRIECHISCHEN    TBAG1KEB. 


§  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  words  and  forms  of  words,  as, 
£avoe,  aiti,  juovyo^,  KfTvof,  QprJKtc;,  ^.iaaoQ,  rdtraov,  Tr/ooerow, 
aim?  and  aurt,  £07),  tpoc,  7roXn'iT»je>  K.  T.  X.  2.  Epic  forms 
of  inflection;  in  the  declensions,  as  eS/otjc,  ^ouvarer,  Sovpl 
and  Sopt,  datives  in  aim,  yat,  otat,  also  TOKfjtf,  TOKJ'JWI/,  and 
resolutions,  voov,  EV/OOOV,  tvTrertoc,  pttOpov  : — in  the  conjuga- 
tions, as,  TToXeu^ifvoc,  KriVorae,  oXtWac,  &c.  3.  Epic  quan- 
tities of  words,  aflavaroe,  aKa/uaroc,  &C.  Doric  forms  of 


488  THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

words  also  occur  :  as  'A0ava,  Sa/ooe,  t'icari,  Kuva-yoe, 

Sato?  (unlucky,  disastrous),  viv,  vaoc,  concerning  which  we 

shall  speak  more  definitely  in  the  dialect  of  the  choruses.* 

FOBM    OF    THE   PROPER   ATTIC   DIALECT. 

1.  Prosody  in  a  wider  sense,  (Breathing,  Quantity, 
Accent). 

Instead  of  ayoc  most  MSS.  have  ayoe,  as  also  in  the 
compounds  ayijXarav,  ayrjXa^etv,  &c.  ;  on  the  same  ground 
Elmsley  has  erroneously  written  aOpoiZu  and  aXvw.  Con- 
cerning the  Attic  avvrw,  instead  of  avvrw,  Porson  (Phceniss. 
463,)  and  Hermann  (Elect.  1443,)  may  be  consulted.  This 
word  is  Attic  on  account  of  the  inserted  r,  as  in  apvrat. 
There  is  no  doubt  about  the  quantity  of  aXvw  in  the  trage- 
dians ;  in  Homer  the  middle  syllable  is  always  short,  except 
Odyss.  ix.  398,  TOV  JUEV  eVsir1  tppi^tv  airo  to  xtpaiv  aXvwv. 
Concerning  f'XXoe  and  e'XXoe,  the  reader  may  consult  Lo- 
beck  (Aj.  1284  ;)  and  Elmsley  ((Ed.  Col.  1074,)  concern- 
ing l/oSto  and  fjoSw.  [He  prefers  the  former  orthography.] 
In  such  words  as  these  the  spiritus  asper  appears  to  have 
proceeded  from  the  grammarians  ;  for  ancient  and  unadul- 
terated MSS.  of  the  tragedians  as  well  as  of  Thucydides, 
Xenophon,  &c.,  confirm  the  lenis  spiritus.  The  word 
might  form  an  exception. 


*  "  Mea  sententia,  ita  se  res  habet.  Nemo  ignorat,  tnultas  esse 
voces,  quae  duas  habeant  formas  ;  unam  communem,  etiam  a  comicis 
usurpatam  ;  alteram  poeticam,  tragicorum  propriam.  Formae  commu- 

nes, exempli  gratia,  SUllt  7ovaT«,  SouXEioy,  i>ii~YO<,  /*o'vor,  ^e'vaj,  oyo/**,  wXs/wv, 
^Sf,  %£~f"  s  poeticae  "yoiivara,  SouXiof,  xtTvoj-,  juovvof,  ^£~vof,  OUXO/AX,  wXewv,  ^aof, 

X'f's".  Formas  poeticas  satis  multas  in  senariis  usurpant  tragici,  sed  ea 
lege,  ut  communis  in  eadem  sede  collocata  metro  adversetur."  —  Elmsley 
on  Eur.  Med.  88. 


THE    GRECIAN*    DRAMA.  489 

Porson,  (on  Orest.  64,)  Erfurdt,  (Aj.  1109,)  and  Her- 
mann concur  in  denying  that  in  a  trimeter  a  short  vowel 
can  be  used  long  before  a  mute  ante  liquidam,  if  the  short 
belongs  to  one  word  and  the  consonants  to  another.  On 
the  lengthening  of  a  short  vowel  before  /3X,  7X5  771,  yv,  Sjtt, 
Sv,  see  Porson  on  Hec.  298,  Elmsl.  Bacch.  131)7,  Herm. 
Antig.  296. 

Seidler  (Eur.  Electr.  1053,)  has  shown  that  k-X  can  make 
position,  whilst  Schneider  and  Wellauer  (^Esch.  Prom.  609,) 
maintain  that  a  mute  before  a  liquid  can  make  position 
generally  in  the  trimeter  as  in  the  anaptestic  and  lyrical 
portions.  Thus,  for  instance,  we  have  irapa  tcXatovm  (Ale. 
558,)*  and  the  short  vowel  perhaps  every  where  long  before 
71-.  Others  have  limited  the  position  to  the  case  of  a  mute 
before  p.  That  p  can  make  the  short  syllable  of  the  pre- 
ceding word  in  the  arsis  long,  we  may  take  as  an  example, 
fiiya  POKOG  (^Esch.  in  Prom.  1023  ;)  and  though  this  in- 
stance recurs  the  most  frequently,  yet  it  is  not  the  only  one. 
The  passages  in  which  position  is  made  by  a  mute  before 
X  are  sufficiently  numerous.  The  ancients  doubled  the 
single  liquids  pronuntiando^  non  scribendo  (Heyne  on  Ho- 
mer). This  law,  which  holds  equally  good  for  the  Latin 
writers,  is  applied  by  the  tragedians  in  the  case  of  proper 
names:  TtXturavroc,  'iTTTrojueSovroc.  (Lobeck  on  Aj.  210.) 
The  Homeric  TrroXie,  TrroXejuoc,  occurs  also  in  the  trage- 
dians, when  the  preceding  short  vowel  must  be  made  long. 

The  a  in  KaXoc,  $6av(a,  is  short  in  the  tragedians  ;  it  is 
long  hi  "ATT^OC,  also  in  SaireSoi'^  and  yipa,  (in  the  epic 
writers  short.)  Finally,  apa  instead  of  a/oa,  which  however 


*  But  Monk  has  edited  :  a.V^»i»  Si  *«f  i  xx«v»»  Soi»»r9*»  $/xoir. 
f  But  see  Porson,  Orest.  324. 


490  THE  GRECIAN  DRAMA. 

Hermann  denies  (Prcef.  ad  (Ed.  Col.)  :  "  Ubi  neque  inter- 
rogation! neque  exclamationi  locus  est,  non  est  ferendum 
dpa ;  in  aliis  locis  apa  v.  y*  apa  in  r1  apa  (i.  e.  rot  apa) 
mutandum ;  ut  in  Hipp.  443,  ubi  videndus  Monkius." 

The  iota  in  Amv  is  doubtful,  as  in  avia,  (Porson,  Phoen. 
1374,)  laadai,  la\rj,  and  their  compounds.  The  iota  in 
tffoc,  00/vw,  and  rtW,  is  long  in  Homer,  short  in  the  trage- 
dians. The  iota  in  the  datives  of  ij/tmc  and  v/iete  is  often 
short,  at  least  in  Sophocles — in  which  case  fyuv,  fifuv,  or 
r\fjuv,  vfjitv  should  be  written.  With  this  we  may  compare 
vvv  for  vvv.  Whether  the  iota  in  comparatives  in  nav  is 
sometimes  used  short  in  the  tragedians,  (as  would  seem  the 
case  in  r/Stov,  Eur.  Suppl.  1104,)  may  be  very  much 
doubted.  The  long  t  in  6</»te,  60ti>,  Kovig,  and  KOVIV,  is 
worthy  of  observation.  [Blomf.  ^Esch.  Prom.  1120.]  The 
short  v  in  SCHC/OUW  in  the  present  and  imperfect,  is  doubtful, 
(see  Porson  on  Med.  1218 ;)  but  less  uncertain  in  vijSiJv. 
(Eur.  Androm.  356,  Cycl.  571.J  It  is  usual  to  shorten 
the  diphthongs  of  one  and  the  same  word  before  vowels  in 
Trotai',  rotouroc,  Sa'Aeuoe,  •yepcuoe,  otoe  (when  the  last  syl- 
lable is  long),  TrctXeuoc,  K.  T.  A.  [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  Trvevjuwv  and  TrAtujUWM,  KVUITTU)  and 
7va7TTW,  £uv  and  <ri»v,  juoAic  and  /uoytc5  £»C  and  tp,  irpaceau) 
and  TrparTb),  OaprrHj  and  Oappit),  ytyvwerictu  and  yivwaKO), 
tXiaait)  and  elAiWw,  cnr\aKtiv  and  «jU7rAa»cai>,  our  decision 
can  be  regulated  only  by  the  authority  of  J\Iss.,  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  /ioyic, 
yvafjurrtiv)  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. 

Person  and  Elmsley  have  been  equally  erroneous  in  uni- 
versally writing  OETOC,  *aw  and  icXaw  :  Hermann's  Preface 
to  Ajax,  p.  18.  "  Falli  puto,  qui,  quod  icaav,  icAaav,  atroq 
Attica  esse  accepimus,  continue  tragicis  hsec  obtrudenda 
esse  existimant."  The  same  writer  defends  ndOov  against 
the  Atticizing  TrtOov,  (Electra,  1003.)  as  others  do  ^UJK/O^C 
against  cr/uttcpoc,  &c.  With  respect  to  the  Diaeresis,  we  must 
observe  tXsetvoe  and  aiaaa),  for  which  we  usually  have  ZXiivbc; 
and  aiffaw ;  other  words  appear  almost  always  contracted, 
as  ol%vg.  Elmsley  writes  iroia  instead  of  iroa  ;  so  also  /ooto, 
ffToto,  %/ooia,  though  not  irvoia,  but  irvoa.  In  reference  to 
K\£'UD  (icXy'to),  K\tlOpov  (icXyOpov),  and  all  their  derivatives, 
the  researches  of  Poppo  would  lead  us  to  adopt  the  rj  gene- 
rally, especially  in  the  fluctuating  KfuXsi/AtvoG  (which  in 
other  passages  is  also  written  KticArj/ili/oe)  and  luXi'iaOi^. 
The  omission  of  the  v  in  afiv,  rrpoaOev,  virepOtv,  &c.,  is 
doubted  by  Ehnsley  (Med.  393.)  ;  but  see  Matth.  (Androm. 
p.  131.  Add.) 

3.  Substantives.  Along  with  flaaiXtig  (Nom.  and  Ace.) 
we  have  /3a<nAfjc>  tirirrig  ;  also  the  Doric  roof,  Ionic 
with  TroXewe  and  TroXto?,  aartwq  and  aanog  ;  1 Awo 
and'A7roXXw,"A|Ojjv,yA|0»}  and"Ap£a  (thus  "A/)£oc)  ;  yovvara, 
according  to  Person  also  7001/0 ;  So/ooe,  $op\ ;  TO  Kpara  with 
TOP  K/OOTO,  Cren.  Kjoaroe?  PI.  Kparwv.  On  the  tragic  dative 
Soptt,  see  Herm.  Aj.  1035.  On  the  vocative  Ot&Voue, 
Elmsl.  (Ed.  C.  557.  The  accusative  of  words  in  EI/?  is  fj 
and  ia ;  in  the  latter  form  we  have  sometimes  the  short  o 


492  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

in  0ov£i>e,  fcEoT/>£i>e,  and  some  proper  names.  (Person, 
Hec.  876.)  The  vocative  of  words  in  t?  varies  in  the  Mss., 
Nutate  and  Nt'/zec-*,  Person,  Ph.  187.  The  Mss.  also  fluc- 
tuate in  Heteroclite  and  Heterogeneous  nouns,  between 
TrAavrj  and  ir\avoQ,  $E<r/nol  and  Seajua,  ot  jvai  and  at  yviai, 
TrAtUjOtu  and  -jrXevpa.  It  is  certain  that  o^cne,  o^ouc?  offcrwv, 
oaaoig  occur  only  in  this  form,  and  ro  X/JEWI/  only  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  crrtppbc*  f)  bptftavbg,  1}  ytwalog,  •>} 
,  tXtvOepbg,  Bri\VQ,  juaratoc,  tyaiiXog ,  /usXtoc,  fipv\iog, 
,  the  latter  only  in  the  chorus,  (Ale.  125.)  others 
more  in  the  chorus  than  the  dialogue,  aAtoc>  TTOTJO^OC,  and 
the  remarkable  TT]\IKOVTOQ.  Concerning  adjectives  in  ac,  a£, 
?jjO,  w/>,  &c.,  as  well  as  compound  adjectives  with  a  feminine 
form,  Lobeck  may  be  consulted.  (Aj.  v.  175.  323.)  Many 
of  the  adjectives  in  toe,  «oe,  oioc,  compounded  with  the  priva- 
tive a,  have  already  the  feminine  form  in  the  ordinary  prose. 
In  the  termination  of  verbal  adjectives,  the  Mss.  often  fluc- 
tuate between  TO?  and  crroc,  for  instance,  a<5ajua<rroe  and 
,  aicAauroe  and  aicAauaToe,  yvdirbg  and  yi/woroe, 
and  Ot/juarbt,;  &zc.  The  decision  is  very  difficult 
when  nothing  can  be  determined  from  the  metre,  or  the 
preponderating  number  of  Mss. 

Among  the  forms  of  comparison  we  remark  the  compa- 
rative Tjau;^1"5/00?'  and  the  superlatives  ^t'Atoroe,  irpoawTa- 
TOf,  ay\t(TTOG,  the  adverbs  £un-o/iwrarwe>  Travuararov  and 
TravixTTara.  In  reference  to  the  termination  of  adverbs 
fluctuating  between  ti  and  I,  as  afw\Btl  and  a/zox^t»  see 


THE   GRECIAN  DRAMA.  493 


Blomf.  on  Prom.  216.  Among  numeral  words  cuo, 
SutTv  and  SuoTv  are  in  use.  Elms.  Med.  1256.  Of  pronouns 
we  adduce  ?5<mvoe,  (£rw,  Wtv,  oiQtv  (Ale.  52.  206.),  viv  and 
<r0£  Ace.  sing,  and  plur.  <r«/»t  as  dat.  sing,  (ei)  Herm.  CEd. 
C.  1487. 

5.  Verbs.  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 
Se  idler  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  Aristoph.  lib.  i. 
p.  78,  79.)  limits  it  still  further  :  "  ubi  res  magna  quaedam 
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 :  Soph.  Elect.  714.  avu — 
'(f>optl9\  2.  in  quibus  sine  metri  dispendio  addi  augmen- 
tum  potest :  Pers.  37o.  T/ooTrouro,  487.  KVK\OVVTO.  3.  quse 
neutr£  ratione  augmentum  admittunt,  corrupta  sunt.  Pers, 
313.  EK  fJLiag  iriaov.  Ant.  403.  tSov  (tStuv). 

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  saino 
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  evpfoKtiv,  and  in  very  many  words 
beginning  with  cu.  For  as  the  r\  did  not  exist  in  the  ancient 
mode  of  writing,  so  rju  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  EU. 
Yet  here  we  must  be  careful  to  distinguish  the  words  not 
compounded  with  the  particle  tu,  or  at  least  consisting  of 
the  particle  EV,  "and  a  derived  verb  commencing  with  a  con- 
sonant (tv^taOai,  tvva%taOai,  and  of  the  second  species 
£vr/o£7n'££tv,  tiiTvxtiv-,)  from  those  verbs  compounded  with 
tv,  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  ivxonai, 
Soph.  Track.  610.  rjvy/i»)i>,  (166.)  KCIT-T^TO,  (Antig.  1336.) 


THE    GRECIAN*    DRAMA.  495 

,  (Eu/\  Hec.  540.)  j)i-^a'/i*»v,  Elmsl.  Heracl.  305. 
In  like  manner  some  verbs  beginning  with  ot  have  seldom  or 
never  the  augment,  even  not  in  pure  prose,  for  instance,  oii/ow, 
oi\ofjiai.  According  to  Hermann,  the  augment  is  only  ex- 
hibited by  those  verbs  in  ot,  which  are  of  seldom  occurrence. 
Of  the  verbs  which  commence  with  ti  (for  instance  «Ka£to) 
neither  this  nor  any  other  has  the  augment  in  the  Mss.  of 
the  tragedians  with  regularity  and  certainty  ;  nor  even  in 
Thucydides.  (Poppo  de  Elocitt.  p.  236.) 

It  is  an  erroneous  opinion,  that  the  tragedians  omitted 
the  temporal  augment  on  account  of  the  metre  (Hermann 
Iph.  T.  53,  vSpaivov).  We,  however,  remark  particularly 
that  the  augment  is  wanting  in  xP^v->  avwya,  Ka0f£ojuTjv, 
KaBforiv,  KadtvSov.  From  avaAi'<rica>  we  have  ava\waa 
more  frequently  than  avi'iXwaa  ;  the  latter  form  is  seldom  to 
be  met  with  in  the  prose  writers.  From  avf\ofiai  we  have 
•i]vta\6iut\v,  i]vt\6iJir\v  and  ave^o/Ltrjv  ;  t/3ouAo/njv  is  more  fre- 
quent than  T/j3ouXojU7jv.  Finally  we  remark  t 


b.  Persons.  The  Dual,  as  is  the  case  with  the  Epic  poets, 
fluctuates  in  the  historical  tenses  between  TJI>  and  ov.* 
Elmsley  denies  that  the  first  person  of  the  dual  in  the  pas- 
sive in  iQov  is  in  use.  The  second  person  of  the  present 
and  fut.  pass,  and  middle  fluctuates  still  more  between  « 
and  jj.  Except  etye/,  olu  and  /3ouAe<,  which  regularly  re- 
tain u,  the  termination  y  in  many  passages  of  the  tragedians 
is  certain  according  to  the  Ms?.  But  TJ  and  «  in  the  Mss. 
are  so  frequently  commuted  in  cases,  where  the  error  is  evi- 
dent, that  we  must  be  careful  not  to  follow  them  implicitly 
in  this  matter.  Plato,  Thucydides,  &c.  have  mostly  the 

*  "  Secundam  personam  dualem  a  tertia  diversam  non  fuisse  primus, 
m  fallor,  momii  ad  Aristoph,  Ach,  733."—  Elmsl.  Med.  1041. 


496  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

form  in  ft.  The  opinions  of  the  learned  therefore  differ 
greatly  upon  the  subject.  The  first  person  plural  often  ter- 
minates in  laBa  instead  of  e0a.  Concerning  the  v  paragogic 
at  the  end  of  the  Senarius,  consult  Reisig.  (Pra?f.  ad  Comm. 
in  (Ed.  Col.  xxiv.) 

c.  Tenses.  Present.  Concerning  the  present  tenses  in 
Qtiv  (rsAtfleiv,  fjitvvQtiv*)  Hermann  may  be  consulted  ((Ed. 
Col.  1019.);  and  concerning  pnrriiv  and  p'nrrtiv  (jactare 
andjacere)  the  same  writer  may  be  consulted.  (Aj.  235.)-f* 
Along  with  the  Attic  lx^a'lP£lv  we  ^ave  a^so  ^X^ 
l(T\aiv£iv  also  \a\vaivnv,  with  ^vvTjptTav  also 
with  oi\iaQai  also  olxvttv,  with  \av6ava)  also  XTJ^W,  with 
TTtTo/jLcu  also  Troraojucu,  (not  ?7rra/uai),  &c.  The  imperatives 
have  the  Attic  form  in  the  last  pers.  PI.  Prses.  Pass,  and 
Mid.  :  a<t>aipttaO<i)v  ;  the  same  in  the  active  ytXwvrwv.  The 
form  in  uaav  is  denied  :  v.  Elmsley.  (Seidl.  Iph.  T.  1480.) 

Future.  We  may  remark  wOfiau  instead  of  weroi  ;  from 
t,  £\£U(TOjuat  ;  further  from  a£//ow,  or  a'/jow,  the  future 
We  have  the  Attic  future  cxeSo?  (Prom.  25.)  ;  TrtAoi 
((Ed.  Col  1060.),  but  also  KaXecrw,  &c.  The  Attic  futures 
in  ovfttOa  proceed  generally  from  the  transcribers,  as  0eu£- 
ov/jLtda,  for  which  Person  writes  QtvZofjitaOa  (Or.  1610.)  ; 
so  TrivaovfJitOa,  ibid.  1362.  Concerning  aivw,  a/oicw,  &:c. 
see  Brunck  ((Ed.  R.  138.  232). 

Perfect:  eotica,  toiyjuey,  tt^acrt  ;  apapa,  Person,  Or.  1323. 
and  the  aorist  apapov  in  lyric  verse  (Herm.  on  Soph.  El. 
144.)  The  Ionic  perfect  oTrwrra  occurs,  Antig.  1127.  ;  otSa 
plusquam-perf.  $Srj,  but  more  commonly  $&tv,  plur. 


"  Elmsley  writes  TtXjQiTy,  p.iwQiTy,  &c.  considering  them  as  aorists  : 
Med.  187.    Hermann  dissents  from  him,  producing  the  pres. 
from  (Ed.  C.  692. 

f  On  vlrnir  and  mrxiry,  see  Elms),  Heracl.  150. 


THE    GRECIAN'    DRAMA.  497 


Aorisi.  We  may  remark  :  inra.  Imaa,  rivtyna  ;  the  opta- 
tive in  ate-  Qi  along  with  the  Attic  :  iriiaaiq  and  Trfitraac; 
in  the  passive  and  middle  AUTTTJ&I/UEV,  jttxrcuaro,  as  also 
TTvOoiaTo  in  Aor.  2.  ;  the  infinitive  middle  iipaadat,  iTTaaOat 
and  TT\r)(raa6ai  ;  and  the  participles  Tr/joxie  from  Tracr^o;,  [a 
doubtful  reading  for  Trraiaag,  hi  JEsch.  Ag.  1637.]  Ktas  and 
KJjavrce  from  icaiw.  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  a-rjAAcryjjv,  t^wyijv,  K/oujSstV, 
pityivris,  <Scc.  [(mpj'vrtc-  Hec.  621.]  Besides,  we  have  to 
remark  the  aor.  1.  lSuva<70jjv.  In  reference  to  the  aor.  2, 
act.  pass,  and  mid.  we  cite  also  ttrvrvov,  IK.TVTTOV.  kc.  As 
p{]fj.ara  avdviro-uKTa.  we  may  cite  TTOJOEIV,  ipiaQai,  and  their 
compounds.  Concerning  other  poetical  aorists,  as  c/o/ovro, 
a/aa/awv,  oTra^wv.  (see  Buttin.  385,  Obs.  7.) 

!>s  in  fii.  Whether  the  contracted  fonn  in  the  present 
is  to  be  met  with  in  the  tragedians,  is  a  matter  of  contro- 
versy. Brunck  has  admitted  it  in  many  passages.  Accord- 
ing to  the  canon  of  Person,  Or.  141,  iriflu  may  be  allowed 
in  the  imperfect,  but  not  nOtl  in  the  present,  for  which 
Tt'0?j<Ti  always  occurs.  Others  approve  of  the  contracted 
forms  in  the  imperfect  and  present,  where  the  MSS.  have 
them  ;  and  from  tij//i  they  write  the  present  ate,  m,  the 
imperfect  ate?  *«•  Of  the  verbs  in  v^tt  there  is  even  the 
first  person  present  in  ucu.  together  with  the  participle  in 
IKDV  ;  although  Person  maintaias  that  this  first  took  place 
in  the  newer  comedy.  The  first  person  of  the  imperfect  of 
a/u  appears  to  have  been  generally  r\,  (thus  also  irapTj, 
&:c.)  ;  yet  ?]v  is  found  before  a  vowel  (where  even  r\  could 
not  be  read  if  the  passages  were  corrupt.)  four  times  in 
Euripides  and  three  times  in  Aristophanes,  (see  Herm, 

K  K 


498  THE    GfifiCIAN    DftAMA. 

CEd.  K.  ed.  n.  xii.)  Concerning  spiv,  tern,  taerfrtu,  see  the 
interpreters  on  JEscli.  Pers.  96,  014,  Soph.  El  21,  818. 
We  also  remark  terra  vat,  tcrrwc,  £<rr/5£e«>,  and  the  impera- 
tives riQsi,  Tr!/J.7rpri,  £f;,  ava,  toracro,  also  t'errw,  ?ru)v. 

6.  Grammatical  Figures.  By  these  we  understand  poetical 
liberties  in  the  addition,  or  omission,  or  transposition  of 
single  letters  and  syllables,  and  particularly  the  freer  use  of 
the  apostrophe  in  the  dialogue-portions  of  the  Greek  tragedy 
sis  well  as  the  lyrical. 

Crasis.  This  figure  is  of  very  frequent  and  extensive  use 
with  the  tragedians,  particularly  in  the  Articulus  prsepositi- 
vua  and  post-positivus,  in  KOL  and  other  particles.  How  it 
Should  be  written  in  all  cases,  the  learned  are  not  agreed. 
Synecphonesis,  is  of  no  less  frequent  occurrence ;  for  in- 
stance, in  t-yeir  ov,  tyw  ttjul,  TJ  ou,  tTrsl  ou,  /ui7  ov,  /u?)  etStvat, 
/uij  &patm.  &c.  mostly  in  the  dialogue. 

Synisesis  occurs  for  the  most  part  only  in  the  lyric  por- 
tions ;  for  instance,  to  in  0e6c>  vo  in  vttcvog,  vo>  in  ''Eptvvvwv, 
•&c. 

Elision  (Apostrophe)  does  not  take  place  (1)  in  r«,  ireplf 
^rt,  (2)  nor  in  the  dative  singular  and  plural  of  the  third 
declension  according  to  the  usual  opinion  ;  see  Hermann, 
however,  on  Alcest.  1123,  (3)  nor  in  the  termination  a(, 
except  in  the  passive  terminations,  fiat,  aai,  TOI,  er&u : 
(4)  usually  only  in  OI/J.OL  before  an  w,  but  not  in,  juol  oot. 
Single  exceptions  however  occur.  Whether  rot  can  suffer 
elision,  see  Buttmann  (Gram.  p.  124,)  and  Thiersch  (Gr.  p. 
426.)* 

Aphceresis  is  usual  in  Kt'XXw  (instead  of  oice'AXw,)  and  in 

*  "  OUT'  a. f <n  est  ov  TOI  afa,  dipthongo  01,  quss  elidi  non  potest,  cum 
brevi  vocali  crasin  efficiente  :  quod  persaepe  fit  in  Atticis  poetis,  pne- 
sertlm  in  TO/  &e<*  et  roi  at."  Monk  Hipp.  443. 


THE    GRECIAX    DRAMA.  499 

and  £0c\«,  if  0|/\w  and  Supo/uae  are  not  distinct 
verbs.  Syncope,  in  <mih'-ae,  (Pers.  50.)  sTray^'acra,  {Anain. 
lit.)  ajupr)(ry,  (ii».r.  Utc.  1263.,)  tcar^ai'tTi',  7xu£voc-  (see 
Bvttma.in  on  PhU.oct.  494.).  Ap-jc-jp^  k-psa.  (E".np.  Cycl. 
120.)  with  a  short  a  instead  of  K/>c-ara  ;  ava  instead  of  ava^ 
and  avaarriBt*  jita  and  /3a  only  in  the  lyric  portions,  Trap, 
^Esch.  Suppl.  556. 

Diwresis  occui-s  in  mw,  tuple,  aica,  and  is  particularly 
frequent  in  anapaests.  Tmesis  in  vTre'p — ortvw.  and  in  other 
verbs  compounded  with  prepositions.  Thus  ti»  ?t  k-XyVarf. 
Epentfasis  in  ?j/\uOov.  iceevov  for  ictvov,  fty  and  ttvaXeoc  for 
ti/,  tvaX.,  youva,  &c.  Diplasiasmus  in  acSrjv,  and  adjectives 
in  <roc,  for  which  <T<TOC,  /ut'cro-oe.  ^[rfi.ifhssis  in 
Paragoae  in  the  poetic  forms,  tvi.  tmi'. 


§    2. IX    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  the-- 
the  Doric  expression  extends  chiefly  to  the  use  of  a  instead 
of  rj,  and  to  some  forms ;  vtv,  Ot&Trooa  for  QlSnro^ov  ;  and 
we  no  where  meet  with  Xt-yojutc,  fivBtv,  /ufAto-St/ufv,  Mw<ra 
or  Mot<ra,  infinitive  in  ei»  and  ?>v,  accusative  plural  in  tag 
and  oc,  &c. 

Some  Doricisms  were  generally  common  to  the  ancient 
language,  and  are  to  be  met  with  in  the  more  ancient 
pro3<Mvriters  and  in  tragic  dialogue  :  Sa/o6e,  ka/ 


500 


THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 


,  \oxaybg,  &c.  ;  and  others  existed  already  in  the  epic 
language  :  SaTr&ov,  9aKog.  Besides  these  we  also  remark 
in  the  choruses  the  following  Doric  forms:  MtvsXac,  gen. 
MfvtXa,  clat.  McWAp.  Thus  'AiSo,  rhXt'a  ;  the  genitive 
AtaiciSav,  Qqpav,  ravSe  yvvaucav,  (see  Person,  however, 
Hec.  1061  ;)  accusative,  tvK\ta  ;  the  vocative  with  the 
apocope  :  jua  instead  of  juarcp,  and  j3a  instead  of  flaaiXtv, 
(^Esch.  Suppl.),  $d  for  -yfj,  (Prom.  567  0  further,  vac, 
vaoe,  vcu  and  vttee,  /ucurowi;  instead  of  /*£<'£wi>,  TTOTI  instead 
of  7r/oof,  even  in  the  Senarius.  Finally,  ava  with  a  dative 
instead  of  avv,  tv  for  tic;.  In  verbs  : 


As  -J2olic  forms  in  the  choral  odes,  we  may  cite 
for  /uercijOfftoe,  TrtSao/oot  for  jU£TewjOo«,  TrcSaf^/utoi  for  fjnrai\- 
fuoi  ;  (see  Blomf.  Prom.  277,)  yvofapoQ  for  Svo^fjooc,  tra^cv 
for  tTa^»}erav,  ayvpig  for  ayojoa,  &c.  Many  are  at  the  same 
time  epic,  as  a/ioe  for  ljuoc,  not  for  ^jutYepoc,  as  in  Homer. 
Other  forms  in  the  lyric  portions  are  jBjpi'c  or  Ionic,  parti- 
cularly those  with  the  double  <r,  as  roaffov,  oXto-erac,  Kriaaaq, 
and  the  datives,  fitpoirtaai,  |3apj6£(rm,  &c.  ;  to  which  we 
may  add  the  resolved  forms,  as  'HjocHcXfV/c,  a&X0£'oe,  pttQpov, 
vfiptog,  tvpi'i,  Nijjoloe,  7ra0£a,  j3/o£T£a>v.  Here  we  may  cite 
also  £ow<ra,  KOI  £?r'  for  KCITT^  KOI  iucovrurral,  £X«£tvoc?  7T£r£«v6e, 
a£tKi7c,  as  well  as  ^euvvoc?  which  others  consider  lyric.  AVe 
have  N£/OT)C?  Iph'g-  A.  1061,  and  /3a<nXik-,  Phoen.  857. 
Finally,  among  the  epic  forms  of  inflection,  we  have  still  to 
notice  the  genitive  in  oto  instead  of  ou  ;  the  dative  in  aim, 
^<rt,  and  O«TI  ;  also  vi)a£,  t£/ofj,  'OSuaff^,  and  others  already 
mentioned.  We  have  also  loc  and  TEOC  ;  TrXIa,  ir\tov  ;  TroX- 
Xov,  TroXca,  TroXtai*  TroXtwv  ;  jutv,  atOev,  tBtv,  &C. 

Form  of  conjugation  :    6ptvfj,ai,    ifyvOov,    tirto,    fiatrat, 
tjuiV.     Epic  words,  as  7jSt,  t/xTrrjc,  (see  Burgess  Eum. 


THE    GRLXIAX    DRAMA.  -50  1 

228.  403.)  oaaoi,  Otaiva,  A?//ta.  Attic  forms  —  AEWC  with 
Aat»c,  yt  \o)v  with  ytXwra  ;  "Ctyme  for  opviBag,  arjSouf  ,  Sa<- 
pucrt  with  SaKpvoig,  \pwTog  with  ^pooc?  irAiwc  with  TrAloe, 
fiovKfpw,  ortu,  orou,  yvwoioipt,  <7jufKpo£  with 


Prosody.  "We  meet  with  alAtoe  (a),  avjjp  with  the  long 
a  :*  Qapog  pi.  $ap»j  for  <£apoc  ;  but  it  is  to  be  met  with  in 
the  tragedians  as  well  as  in  Homer  with  the  long  a  ;  also 
^otraXiog  [Orest.  321.]  ;  aiacno  with  the  short  a  ;  in  Homer 
it  is  always  long  ;  <noj  has  the  a  doubtful  in  the  tragedians. 
[Hec.  170.174.]  Again,  we  have  U/JLOQ  and  a//6c  ;  "?A" 
with  the  long  and  short  i  ;  and  the  quantity  of  the  v  vary- 
ing in  waSee,  uSaroc,  airvwv,  aAuw,  tScc.  ;  also  yjivatOQ  with 
the  short  u.  [Elmsl.  Med.  633.]  Brunckon  Orestes  (201.) 
says,  "  tertia  in  'Ayajutjuvwv  corripi  potest  in  Melicis;" 
and  concerning  TTOTJUOC  with  the  first  syllable  long  we  refer 
to  Seidler  (de  Vers.  Doch.  p.  106.)  Concerning  the  length- 
ening and  shortening  of  syllables  by  the  insertion  and  re- 
duplication or  removal  of  letters,  Hermann  may  be  con- 
sulted, Metr.  p.  45.  As  an  instance  of  such  a  lengthening 
we  may  cite  tXtSs/zvue  (Sept.  Theb.  83.),  and  of  shortening 
XpvaopuroQ  for  \puaopp.  Soph.  Autig.  940. 

Greater  freedom  prevails  in  the  chorus  than  in  the  sena- 
rius  with  respect  to  the  shortening  of  diphthongs  and  long 
vowels  ;  for  instance,  we  meet  with  it  even  in  K/ov^aToc,  tK£- 
TCUOC,  oloc  (even  when  the  last  syllable  remains  short),  vaUi, 
Smojv,  StiAeu'tov,  aiev,  and  before  the  vowel  of  another  word, 
KaSjuou  ETTWVUJUOV,  eu,  a*,  &c.  The  long  vowel  is  shortened 
in  'Aj07jta»i',  't'Aaoe,  ^wnj/ut,  TpiJJiKtov, 
kc.  and  in  separate  words  ;  tv  voaq 

The  noun  and  the  adjective.     There  prevails  a  still  greater 
•  See  Scholef.  on  Phoen.  1670. 


502  THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

freedom  in  lyrical  passages  with  respect  to.  the  feminine 
form  of  compound  adjectives.  Thus  we  have  the  old  poeti- 
cal forms  G0avar»),  arai/pwrrj,  TroAuKAavrrj,  axajuartj,  0tXq- 
£tvrj,  &c.  See  Elmsl.  and  Pors.  Med.  822.,  Nouns  appel- 
lative are  sometimes  used  adjectively,  as  'EXXu^og  CTroAijg. 
Feminine  adjectives  are  sometimes  used  as  masculine,  as 
Tt£  'EAAac,  T)  rie  jSapjSapoe  (Eur.  Phoen.  1524.)  ;  even, 
as  neuter,  Spojiicun  /BAe^apotc  (Eur.  Or.  835.)  ;  even  in  the 
nominative  and  accusative,  o-jca^oc  oAicae  (Eur.  Cycl.  503). 

Here  we  may  also  cite  the  following  remarkable  passages  : 
Spojua&e  fypvytG  (Eur.  Or.  1415.)  and  SpojuaSi  icwAw  (Hel. 
1317.) — lv  -nivrfti  (To'juart  (Eur.  El.  372.  in  Senar.)  ;  also  in 
Sophocles,  aju0t7rA?)'yt  ^acrya'v^  (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  :  Rlies.  550.  Tr 
aijSovie,  Or.  1305.  rav  \tnroTraTopa,  Phceniss.  681. 
TOjOoe  'love,  Here.  Fur.  114.  T£»«a  cnraropa.  Of  adjec- 
tives in  Tjc,  rjroc-,  we  adduce  the  following  examples  :  ai'S- 
,  (^Esch.  Suppl.  681.)  and  in  Senar.  T^C  TTO-- 
(Soph.  Trach.  1127.)  With  respect  to 
inflection,  we  may  also  notice  5)  /nciKap  irapQivt  (He}.  381.) 
and  ru^ac  juaK-ajooe,  (Iph.  T.  616.)  TTVOCU  vrtar&is,  (Again. 
201.)  SovoKO^Aoa  Evpwrav,  (Iph.  T.  400.)  tKrjjSdAyort  \ipa\v 
(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  0%, 
ovcraa,  ovv,  particularly  in  the  feminine  nTtpovaaa,  alOa- 
and  a  OeaTriiireia  Trtrpa,  (QEd.  T.  463.)  iroXvSiv- 
aXa/jLaif  (Bacch.  560.) 

Poetical  adjectives  of  rare  occurrence,  or  a  somewhat  dif- 
ferent inflection  of  the  ordinary  ones,  arc  frequently  resorted 


THE   GRECIAN1    DRAMA.  503 

to  by  the  tragedians  in  lyrical  passages.  We  merely  cite 
in  this  place  the  vocative  of  /ulyac  in  -^Esch.  (Sept.  Theb. 
824.)  /ucyaXt  Ztv,  and  the  poetical  form  of  adjectives  in  tjc ; 
for  instance,  roXuye,  apyaq  (Doric  for  a/ryyc,  Agam.  ]16.)  ; 
or  in  jjc  and  ag  for  o?,  as  7roXfjuopxaC  (Sept.  Theb.  791.) 
The  freedom  and  the  boldness  of  JEschylus  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  vac? 
avatq  (Pers.  677.),  fJtyaXa  ntyaXriyopwv,  (Sept.  Theb.  539.) 
&c.,  is  worthy  of  notice.  Among  the  forms  of  comparison 
\ve  also  remark  /SArf/aoc,  ^BAraroc,  in  /Esch. ;  nucportpoG, 
TrAt'oue,  in  Sophocles. 

Pronouns:  u^/n£  in  Soph.  Antig.  846.;  viv  belongs  ex- 
clusively to  the  tragedians.  The  reflective  pronoun  ou,  ot. 
&c.  stands  as  a  pronoun  of  the  third  person  for  auroc  in  all 
the  three  genders  ;  atyi  as  dative  sing,  and  <r«£e  as  accusa- 
tive sing,  and  plur.  of  all  genders  occurs  in  Senarii :  ^c  for 
tavrov.  (JEsch.  Sept.  Theb.  615.)  Ttoc,  rtri,  rtov,  generally 
only  in  choruses :  Soph.  Antig.  604.  Eur.  Heracl.  914. 
*Ov  for  ibv— kuv  and  d»v.  Totat  from  TIC  in  Soph.  Trach. 
984. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


EXAMINATION     PAPERS. 


1 .  DEFINE  your  notion  of  epic,  lyric,  and  dramatic  poetry  2 
What  species  of  composition  is  implied  in  the  term  lyrical 
tragedy  ?     Mention  the  various  meanings  that  have  been 
derived  from  the  etymology  of  the   words  rpay^ia  and 
rpuyqjSia  ?     Which  of  these  explanations  is  most  conforma- 
ble to  analogy  ? 

2.  On  what  grounds,  according  to   Aristotle,  did   the 
Dorians  lay  claim  to  the  invention  of  tragedy  and  comedy  ? 
Point  out  the  fallacy  of  the  argument  he  mentions  2     In 
what  Greek  cities  out  of  Attica  were  early  advances  made 
towards  dramatic  poetry  I     Where  was  any  of  its  branches 
brought  to  its  perfection  earlier  than  at  Athens  2     Explain 
the  proverb  owc>£  TO.  STJJO-I^OJOOU  rpta  yiyvMaiceie;  2     Mention 
the  age,  country,  and  inventions  of  Stesichorus,  and  the 
character  of  his  poetry  as  described  by  the  ancients  2 

3.  Relate  the  principal  Attic  legends  concerning  the  in- 
troduction of  the  worship  of  Bacchus  into  Athens  2     How 
did  the  oracles  contribute  to  this  end  2     By  what  means 
does  the  worship  of  Bacchus  appear  to  have  become  con- 
nected with  that  of  Apollo  at  Delphi,   and  with  that  of 
Ceres  at  Eleusis  2 


THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA.  505 

4.  Enumerate  the  Attic  Dionysia,  and  explain  the  origin 
of  their  particular  names.     In  what  Attic  month,  and  at 
what  season  of  the  year,  was  each  celebrated  I     To  what 
division  of  the  Greek  nation  did  the  month  Lenseon  belong  I 
To  what  Attic  month  did  it  correspond  \     What  is  the 
origin  of  the  name,  and  what  inference  may  be  drawn  from 
it  as  to  the  place  of  the  month  in  the  calendar  ;     Which 
was  the  most  ancient  of  the  Dionysia  at  Athen>  : 

5.  At  which  of  the  Dionysia  were  dramatic  entertain- 
ments given?      In  which   were  the  dithyrambic   choruses 
exhibited  ?     What  were  the  peculiar  regulations  affecting 
the  performances  at  each  festival ;      In   which  were   the 
TpaywSol  Kaivoi  •     What  authority  is  there  for  believing, 
that  women  were  admitted  to  these  spectacles  I 

6.  What  were  the  denominations  of  the  three  actors, 
and  what  was  the  general  name  for  the  other  characters  in 
a  play  \ 

7.  Give  some  examples  to  illustrate  the  different  light  in 
which   actors  were  regarded  by  the  Greeks  and   by   the 
Romans.     How  is  the  fact  to  be  explained  \     From  what 
causes  did  the  profession  of  an  actor  rise  in  importance  in 
Greece,  between  the  age  of  ^Eschylus  and  that  of  Demos- 
thenes ; 

8.  What  part  of  the  expense  of  the  theatrical  entertain- 
ments was  defrayed  by  the  Athenian  government,  and  what 
by  individuals  2     Mention  the  various  duties  and  charges 
to  which  the  \opriydi  were  subject.     With  what  powers  did 
the  law  invest  them  in  the  execution  of  their  office  \     Ex- 
plain the  origin  and  nature  of  the  QtwpiKov  ;    the  changes 
that  took  place  in  the  distribution  of  it,  and  its  political 
consequences.        Who    were    the    Otarpwvat   and   dtarpo- 
TrdiAcu .' 


506  THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

9.  Mention  the  various  ways  in  which  Greek  tragedy 
was  made  to  answer  political  purposes,  and  produce  some 
illustrations  from  the  extant  plays.      By  what  tragedian 
was  the  drama  most  frequently  so  applied  2     What  argu- 
ments beside  that  of  the  Persse  were  taken  from  events 
subsequent  to  the  return  of  the  Heracleids  2     How  do  you 
explain  the  saying  attributed  to  jEschylus :  rag  avrov  rpa- 
yqSiag  Te/na^ri  tlvai  rwv  '0/j.ijpov  [iryaXuv  Stiirvwv  2 

10.  State  the  best  attested  dates  of  the  birth  and  death 
of  ^Eschylus.     Enumerate  his  dramatic   predecessors  and 
contemporaries  in  the  order  of  time.     Mention  the  leading 
occurrences  in  his   life,  the  honours  paid  to  him  after  his 
death,  the  members  of  his  family  whose  names  are  known, 
and  the  causes  of  their  celebrity.     Do  his  plays   contain 
any   intimation    as    to   his   political   sentiments?      What 
grounds  have  been  assigned  for  the  charge  of  impiety,  said 
to  have  been  brought  against  him  ?     What  reason  is  there 
for  believing  that  he  made  more  than  one  journey  to  Sicily  2 
When  did  Hiero  become  king  of  Syracuse,  and  how  long 
did  his  reign  last  2 

11.  What  were  the  plays  that  made  up  the  tetralogy  to 
which  the  Persse  belonged  2     State  the  principal  features  of 
the  legends  connected  with  their  names  2     What  ground  is 
there  for  supposing  that   the  trilogy  had  a  common  title  2 
In  what  manner  may  the  argument  of  the  Persae  have  been 
connected  with  those  of  the  other  two  pieces  2     What  other 
poets  wrote  plays  of  the  same  name  2 

12.  Define  and  exemplify  the  metrical  terms,  arsis,  thesis, 
basis,   anacrusis,   anaclasis,   cccsura,  prosodia.      What  is 
meant  by    metres,  KOT'    avrnraOtiav  /ui/cra2      What  is  an 
asynartetic  verse  2 

13.  In  what  cases  are  adverbs  of  time  properly  followed 


THE   GRECIAN"    DRAMA. 

by  the  indicative,  in  what  by  the  subjunctive  or  the  optativo 
mood  .-     When  is  the  subjunctive,  and  when  the  optativ 
required  after  a  relative  pronoun  or  adverb  \     Distinguish 
the  different  meanings  of  the  following  words,  according  to 
the  difference  of  their  accentuation  :    a-yn?  /3toc, 


VOJUOf, 

14.  Give  the  dates  of  the  birth,  and  death,  and  first 
tragic  victory  of  Sophocles.     In  what  war  was  he  engaged  \ 
What  was  its  duration  and  event  \ 

15.  How  long  after  the  death  of  Sophocles  and  Euripides, 
did  Aristophanes  produce  his  Eanae  I 

16.  How  far  does  Phrynichus  appear  to  deserve  the  title 
of  father  of  tragedy  \     Why  was  a  fine  imposed  upon  him 
for  his  MiXifrov  aAoxrtf;  \      Where   is  the  story  related  2 
What  characters  did  he  introduce  I 

17.  What  do  you  consider  to  be  the  object  of  epic  and 
dramatic  poetry  \    What  the  chief  characteristic  of  Grecian 
tragedy  I 

18.  How  was  the  drama  encouraged  at  Athens? 

19.  What  is  the  controversy  respecting  the  Lensea  I 

20.  What  was  the  nature  of  the  laws  Trtpi  TUV  0eajptKwi>  ? 
When  introduced,  and  with  what  object  \     How  does  De- 
mosthenes allude  to  them  I 

'21.  Explain  the  terms  caesura,  quasi-cccsv.ra,  and/awsc, 
in  the  iambic  trimeter  of  the  tragedians  ? 

22.  What  proofs  do   we  possess  of  the  existence  of  a 
Tpayy&a  and  Kwju^Sm  in  Greece,  independent  of  the  Attic 
stage?       Mention    the  different   derivations  of  the  word 
TpcrywSt'a,  and  explain  the  objections  to  which  Bentley's  is 
liable. 

23.  What  is  the  meaning  of  /3o»jXa'-'?c  lidvpa^o^  in 


508 


THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA. 


Pindar?  What  was  the  prize  in  the  dithyrambic  contests  2 
In  what  sense  might  Arion  be  said  rpayiicov  rpoTrou  fupsrjje 
ytveaOat  ?  State  the  principal  objections  to  Bentley's  as- 
sertion, that  all  the  plays  of  Thespis  were  ludicrous,  and 
that  none  of  them  were  committed  to  writing. 

24.  Mention  the  most  material  points  in  which  the  con- 
struction of  a  Greek,  and  that  of  a  Roman  theatre  differed. 
Distinguish  between  o^arpa  and  orchestra,  irpoXoyoc  and 
prologm,  e^oStov  and  exodium.     What  is  meant  by  protasis 
and  persona  protatica  on  the   Roman  stage  2     What  in- 
stances of  the  latter  occur  in  Euripides  2 

25.  Explain  the  cause  of  the  Doric  dialect  being  used  in 
the  choruses  of  the  Attic  drama,  and  produce  some  parallel 
instances.     How  did  the  Doric  dialect  of  the  tragedians 
differ  from  that  of  Pindar  2 

26.  What  are  the  characters  attributed  by  the  ancients 
to  the  following  apftoviai :  TJ  Awpidrt,  17  "* loan',   77  AioXtar/, 
?j  3>pvyi(TTi  2 

27.  Give  a  schenje  and  specimen  of  the  Catullian  Galliam- 
bic.     How  does  it  differ  from  the  Saturnian  of  Nsevius  2 

28.  What  is  the  difference  between  irarpio^  irurpwog, 
•jrarpiKO^  2  between  StSotica  /uj)  O£\IIQ,  and  StSotKa  /IT)  BeXyt;  \ 
between  ^  BtXwv  and  /u?)  ov  0IXwv!  between  irptv  7ro«tTv, 
Trp\v  TTo/ijo-ot,  and  irplv  7T£7rot»}ictvai  2 

29.  In  what  species  of  songs  did  comedy  and  tragedy  re- 
spectively originate  ?     Does  there  appear  to  have  been  any 
essential  difference  between  tragedy  and  comedy  before  the 
time  of  Thespis?     What  was  the  nature   of  the  ancient 
comedy,  and  to  what  kind  of  subjects  do  the  plays  of  Epi- 
charmus  appear  to  have  related  ?     What  was  the  distinc- 
tion between  the  old,  the  middle,  and  the  new  comedy? 
To  which  class  does  that  of  Aristophanes  belong  ? 


THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA.  509 

30.  What  was  the  metre  of  the  satyric  songs  according 
to   Aristotle  \     Does   the   same    measure   prevail  in   that 
satyric  drama  which  has  come  down  to  us  I 

31.  Mention  the  several  changes  which  tragedy  under- 
went, and  the  different  persons  by  whom  the  successive 
improvements  were  introduced. 

32.  In  what  estimation  was  -^Eschylus  held  by  the  Athe- 
nians ?     Was  any  encouragement  given  to  those  who  after 
his  death  reproduced  his  dramas  '     Were  they  ever  allowed 
to  be  brought  forward  at  the  tragic  contests  for  the  prize  ? 
What  is  Quinctilian's  statement  on  this  subject ; 

33.  Can  you  mention  any  play,  or  plays,  of  -^Eschylus, 
in  which  a  greater  number  of  Dorisms  is  observable  than  in 
his  others  ?     Do  you  conceive  that  this  circumstance  may 
be  applied  to  determine  the  chronological  order  of  the  plays 
which  remain  to  us  ? 

34.  Is  OTTWC  ytviiaOe  legitimate?     State  Dawes"1  Canon 
respecting  the  use  of  tree,  ttypa,  wg,  &c.  to  denote  a  purpose. 

35.  Are  there  any  pretensions  to  the  invention  of  tragedy 
prior  to  Thespis ;     Define  the  date  of  its  origin  ;  and  show 
how  it  bears  upon  the  question  of  the  authenticity  of  the 
Letters  of  Phalaris.     What  was  the  nature   of  Thespis's 
pieces  ?     Is  there  any  thing  of  the  same  kind  to  be  found 
among  the  works  of  the  three  great  tragedians  I     Author 
of  the  serious  tragedy  ? 

36.  Enumerate  and  explain  the  chief  parts  and  divisions 
of  the  Greek  Theatre.     To  what  festivals  were  dramatic 
exhibitions  at  first  confined  at  Athens  \     To  what  were  they 
afterwards  added  \     What  was  the  nature  of  the  competi- 
tions of  the  tragedians  I     With  what  pieces  did  they  con- 
tend ?     And  how  was  the  prize  adjudged  \ 

37.  Who  was  the  Kopv<j>aioc  ?    And  whence  is  the  word 


510  THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

derived  ?     What   was  the  expense   of  a   tragic   chorus  ? 
What  was  the  office  of  the  XopoStSacncaAoe  ? 

38.  What  was  the  number  of  the  chorus  in  the  time  of 
Sophocles  ?     What  is  the  common  account  given  of  the  re- 
duction of  its  number  I     Is  there  any  thing  in  the  charac- 
ter of  -^Eschylus  which  makes  that  account  probable  of 
otherwise  ? 

39.  Define   the   ETTEtaoStov,    Tra/ooSoc,    E^oSoc,    oracr/jwbv, 


40.  At  what  period  did  Sophocles  live  ?     What  public 
office  did  he  bear  ?     At  what  age  did  he  die  ?     What  is 
known  of  his  general  feelings  and  conduct  towards  ^Eschy- 
ius  ?    Are  any  traces  of  a  contrary  feeling  discernible  in 
the  writings  of  Euripides  ? 

41.  Arrange  the  plays  of  Sophocles  in  the  chronological 
order  of  their  subjects,  and  mention  those  of  JEschylus  and 
Euripides,  which  are  written  on  the  same  subjects  with 
any  of  them. 

42.  What  catastrophe  does  Aristotle  consider  best  for 
tragedy  ?     Which  of  the  three  tragedians  most  generally 
accords  with  his  opinion  on  this  point  ? 

43.  What  species  of  character  does  the  same  critic  con- 
sider as  best  adapted  for  tragedy  ?     Compare  the  character 
of  Philoctetes,  in  this  respect,  with  the  Timon  of  Shaks- 
peare  ? 

44.  Define  the  IlepiTrtrEto  and  'Avayvwpwnc;    and  say  if 
there  be  any  example  of  either  or  both  in  the  Philoctetes 
of  Sophocles  ? 

45.  Explain  the  caesuras  of  an  iambic  senarius  —  the  rule 
relating  to  an  anapaest  in  the  case  of  a  proper  name  —  and 
that  respecting  a  whole  metre  being  included  in  a  single 
Word. 


THE    GRECIAN'    DRAMA.  511 

46.  Define  the  pause  ;  the  quasi -caesura  ;  and  the  metri- 
cal Ictus.  Explain  the  six  classes  of  the  oruortj/zanjca  ;  also 
the  six  species  of  the  Kara  a\icriv. 

4".  Give  a  general  account  of  the  usage  of  the  tragedians 
in  respect  of  the  quantity  of  the  second  syllable  of  avia  and 
its  derivatives.  How  do  they  scan  /u?)  ou  ;  Is  their  prac- 
tice invariable  ! 

48.  Mark  the  quantity  of  the  former  syllable  in  Mar, 
7r«Kpr»c»  ^IKOOC, — of  7rac>  and  the  latter  syllable  in  ulyag, 
TaAa£,  raXav. 

49.  Accentuate  ours  and  ovcf.  and  account  for  the  dif- 
ference.    Mark  the  difference  of  accent,  according  to  the 
different  significations,    in  TTOVJJOO^,  0eai>,   icaAwc,  StSojutv  ; 
and  of  accent  and  breathing  in  £<c,  aTrXooc,  vv,  tvi. 

50.  Mention  by  what  moods  and  tenses  the  particles  ou 
jun  are  necessarily  followed.     Show  generally  the  difference 
of  construction  between  ^pi)  and  £«  ;  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  I 

52.  In  tragedy  what  are  the  instrument)?,  the  manner, 
and  the  objects  of  imitation  '     In  what  order  of  importance 
does  Aristotle  place  these  last  1 

53.  Was  the  law  of  the  three  unities  a  law  of  the  Greek 
school  \     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. 

man  stage  supported  2  What  is  the  greatest  amount  on 
record  of  their  theatrical  expenses  in  one  year  2  Were 
these  funds  ever  infringed  2  What  was  the  difficulty  in  in-- 
fringing them  2  Give  the  meaning  of  the  terms  :  \tiTovpyiai 
\opr\jov  tvtjKfiv,  \opriyiiv 


55.  To  whom  do  the  Arundel  marbles  ascribe  the  inven- 
tion of  tragedy  2     Between  what  two  events  is  the  epoch  of 
its  invention  placed  2     Approximate  by  this  means  to  the 
date  of  the  invention.     Does  the  authority  of  Plutarch  or 
of  Plato  coincide  with  the  marbles  2     When,  and  under 
what  king,   were  the  Arundel  marbles   engraved?     Why 
called  Arundel  \   On  what  subjects  are  they  most  particular  2 

56.  To  whom  has  the  invention  of  comedy  been  ascribed  2 
What  is  the  opinion  of  Theocritus  2  of  Aristotle  2     Who 
is  named  by  the  Arundel  marbles  as  the  inventor  2     Which 
way   does  the  etymology  of  certain   scenic   words   lean  ? 
What  is  the  reason  that  so  little  is  known  of  the  progress 
of  comedy  2 

57.  Explain  the  expressions,  ouSii/  TT/OOC  TOV 

OT£  TplTTOV  KUTajOl    "XOpOV,    UXTTTEjO    t 


58.  Give  an  account  of  the  regular  anapaestic  verse  used 
by  the  tragedians.     Is  the  anapsestic  verse  of  Aristophanes 
subject  to  the  same  rules  2     Does  Seneca  observe  the  law 
of  ffwacjitia  2 

59.  What  other  arts  reached  their  perfection  at  Athens 
at  the  same  time  with  tragedy  2     Mention  the  historians, 
poets,  philosophers,  statesmen,  and  artists   cf  note,   who 
were  contemporary  with  Sophocles,  and  citizens  of  Athens. 

60.  Show  the  propriety  of  the  Greek  names  for  article, 
noun,  pronoun,  adjective,  verb,  adverb,  conjunction,  prepo- 


THE   GRECIAN*    DRAMA.  513 

sition.  Do  the  Greek  grammarians  allow  interjections  as  a 
separate  class  ;  Show  the  importance  of  the  article  in  the 
terms  TO  TrAotov,  ot  EI-CEKO,  6  avdpujrog. 

61.  2tya  receives  four  different  accents.     Give  the  mean- 
ings and  quantities  of  the  word  so  accentuated.     Distin- 
guish between  oloc  and  otoe,  tijui  and  slui,  vvv  and  vuv,  vfjiiv 
and  vfjiiv.     What  rule  does  Porson  lay  down  for  the  quan- 
tity of  avi'ip  I     Give  Clarke's  rule  for  the  quantity  of  the 
final  syllable  of  accusatives  of  nouns  in  tuc- 

62.  Whence  did  the  error  of  a  second  future  arise  :  Men- 
tion the  different  Ionic  futures,  both  active  and  middle, 
which  the  Attic  dialect  contracted.     Assign  a  reason  for 
the  difference  of  the  futures  of  the  two  dialects.     Will  this 
reason  apply  to  the  termination  taw  .-     Why  are  not  Ionic 
and  Attic  futures  always  different  \ 

63.  When  adverbs  are  derived  from  substantives,   from 
which  case  are  they  derived  ;     Show  the  manner  of  their  for- 
mation.    In  the  form  oMNfUMcr},  a/ua^el,  how  do  you  ascer- 
tain whether  the  termination  is  «  or  t :     What  is  the  quan- 
tity of  the  final  t ; 

64.  Is  the  augment  elided  in  tragedy  \     Is  a  diphthong 
ever  elided  \     Is  at  elided  in  the  case  of  the  third  persons, 
or  the  infinitives  of  verbs  \     State  the  opinions  of  Dawes, 
Tyrwhitt,  and  Lobeck. 

65.  When  is  it  probable  that  the  word  rpayiooia  was  first 
Ux<*ed  I     What  name,  according  to  Bentley,   was  originally 
common  to  both  tragedy  and  comedy  \ 

66.  To  what  regulations  were  the  competitors  for  prizes 
subject  in  producing  their  dramas  ;     Whence  arose  the  ne- 
cessity of  Horace's  precept ;     "  Sec  quarta  loqai  persona, 
laboret^     What  length  of  time  is  it   probable   that  the 
audience  were  kept  at  one  sitting  \ 

L  L 


514  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

67.  What  argument  is  used  by  Person,  and  what  by 
Elmsley,  to  prove  that  owSae  was  written  ouS1  elc  by  the 
Attics  ?     Are  there  any  examples  of  elisions  at  the  end  of 
iambic  lines,  and  under  what  circumstances ! 

68.  What  is  the  quantity  of  a  syllable  consisting  of  a  short 
vowel  followed  by  a  mute  and  liquid  in  Homer  ?  what  in 
tragic  ?  what  in  comic  verse  I 

69.  What  is   Dawes's   Canon  respecting  a  syllable  in 
which  a  short  vowel  precedes  one  of  the  middle  consonants, 
|3,  7,    §,   followed  by  any  of  the  liquids  except  p  ?     Are 
there  any  cases  in  which  the  rule  is  violated  ? 

70.  What   cases   are  commonly  used  absolutely?      To 
what  may  the  nominative  absolute  usually  be  referred? 
What  distinction  is  made  by  Elmsley  between  the  genitive 
and  the  accusative  absolute  ?     What  difference  is  there  be- 
tween the  genitive  absolute  with  and  without  u>c  ?     Is  the 
accusative  absolute  ever  found  without  this  particle  ? 

71 .  State  Dawes's  Canon  respecting  the  prolongation  of 
a  short  vowel  before  p.     Show  where  it  is  erroneous,  and 
give  the  correct  one.    Does  the  same  rule  obtain  in  Homeric 
verse  ? 

72.  Where  was  Euripides  born,  in  what  Olympiad,  and 
year  before  Christ  ?     Give  an  accurate  rule  for  converting 
dates  before  Christ  into  the  corresponding  periods  of  Olym- 
piads, and  the  contrary. 

73.  Who  was  his  philosophical  preceptor  ?     What  other 
illustrious  persons  studied  under  the  same  master  ?     Refer 
to  some  of  the  peculiar  tenets  in  his  writings,  which  he  is 
supposed  to  have  derived  from  this  source. 

74.  Explain  the  parabasis  of  comedy  ;  and  say  in  what 
manner  Euripides  is  supposed  to  have  supplied  its  place. 

75.  What  stage  of  the  Attic  dialect  was  in  use  at  Athens 


THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA.  515 

in  the  time  of  Euripides  ?  How  does  his  language  vary 
from  it,  and  why  \  Explain  what  is  meant  by  the  Middle 
Attic,  and  how  far  it  is  a  distinct  branch  from  both  Old  and 
Netc. 

76.  Explain  the  principle  of  attraction  between  the  rela- 
tive and  its  antecedent.     State  the  utmost  extent  to  which 
it  is  carried ;   and  produce  instances  of  the  more  unusual 
cases. 

77.  An  interchange  of  sense  sometimes  takes  place  be- 
tween the  different  voices  of  verbs.     State  what  tenses,  in 
each  respectively,  most  frequently  change  their  sense,  and 
how  ? 

78.  What   are    Aristotle's    rules    respecting   the   rjflij  I 
Which  of  the  characters  in  the  Orestes  of  Euripides  does 
he  censure  as  faulty  in  this  point,  and  on  what  ground  ? 

79.  What  difference  has  been  observed  between  the  ge- 
neral character  of  the  choric  odes  of  Euripides,  and  those  of 
the  preceding  tragedians  • 

80.  What   error  have  modern   critics,    as  Dacier  and 
Brumoy,  fallen  into,  as  to  the  division  of  the  Greek  tragedy 
into  acts  \     What  was  the  division  of  the  Greek  tragedy  ? 

81.  Tjoay<j>£ia  and  rpvyw^ia  were  quite  distinct  I     What 
was  the   satyric  drama  ?     By  whom  invented  \     Did  the 
Roman  satire  correspond  to  the  Mrwpoti)  of  the  Greeks  \ 

82.  What  was  Bentley's  opinion  as  to  the  primary  signi- 
fication of  the  word  Kw^St'a  \     The  passage  which  he  ad- 
duces to  prove  its  meaning  suggests  a  better  etymology, 
which  is  almost  established  by  a  passage  in  Demosthenes. 

83.  Give  some  evidence  of  the  estimation  in  which  actors 
were  held  by  the  Athenians.     The  name  of  their  most  cele- 
brated actor  ; 

84.  Who  invented'  the  signs  of  the  accents  ?     State  the 
difference  between  accent  and  quantity.     How  is  accent  in- 


516  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

fluenced  by  quantity  ?     How  does  the  leading  syllable  of 
the  word  serve  to  regulate  the  accent  ? 

85.  In  general  a  long  final  syllable  affects  the  accent ; 
what  are  the  exceptions  to  this  law  ? 

86.  What  deviation  from  the  old  ^Eolic  usage  is  to  be 
observed  in  the  more  recent  dialects,   with  reference  to  the 
use  of  the  accent  ? 

87.  How  does  the  consideration  of  the  dual  number  prove 
that  the  ./Eolic  is  the  most  ancient  dialect  of  Greece  ? 

88.  What  are  the  enclitics?     Mention  the  principal  of 
them.     In  what  cases,  generally,  do  they  throw  back  the 
accent ;  and  when  not  ?     In  what  cases  does  it  happen  that 
a  word  can  have  a  double  accent  I 

89.  Give  the  different  meaning  of  the  following  words 
according  to  the  difference  of  accentuation,  Trapet,  OIVOQ,  ava, 

VOfJLOG,  TTOTf,   OjUto£,   (ftWQ,  fc>£  ? 

90.  State  the  rules  laid  down  by  Dawes  and  Elmsley  as 
to  ivor,   6d>pct,  &c.  ;   when  do  they  govern  the  indicative ; 
when  the  optative ;  and  when  the  subjunctive  ?     What  are 
the  moods  and  tenses  governed  by  OTTOJC  ? 

91.  Derive  the   names   paroemiac,  logaxedic,  dochmiac, 
prosodiac ;  and  define  these  different  metres. 

92.  What  were  the  changes  in  the  quantity  of  the  penul- 
timate of  icaXoe  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  Person  ? 

96.  Enumerate  the  casos  in  which  the  fifth  foot  of  a  sena- 


THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA.  517 

rius  may  be  a  spondee.     Person'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  : 

99.  There  are  two  different  acceptations  of  the  words 
aoffig  and  Qimq  ;  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  .- 

101.  On  what  principle  does  Hermann  get  rid  of  such 
anapaests  as  oi  t-yw  ; 

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  Person  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? 
What  are  the  means  of  poetic  imitation  2 

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  .' 

109.  The  Dorians  claim  both  tragedy  and  comedy ;  on 


518  THE  GRECIAN   DKAMA. 

what  grounds,  respectively  ?  The  claim  of  the  Megarians 
is  supported  by  certain  proverbial  expressions,  and  by  the 
testimony  of  Ecphantides  ? 

110.  Derive  the  words,  icroicpjTTje,  Spa/ia,  icw/u^Sta, 


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  ava/3oAtuof  the  dithyrambic 
poets  ?     What  style  of  prose  diction  does  Aristotle  compare 
to  the  two  styles  of  the  dithyrambic  poetry  2 

113.  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  iirtiao&ov  in  two  senses,  each  differ- 
ing  from  the  modern  episode.     What  were  the  two  parts 
of  tragedy  originally  2 

118.  Give  examples  of  avayvuptms  and  Tn^nrirna.  from 
Shakspeare.     What  species  of  tragedy  would  you  reduce 
Hamlet  to  2     And  what  Othello  I     Mention  the  State  and 
Auffte  in  Macbeth,  the  Merchant  of  Venice,  and  Richard  II.  ? 

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    GRECIAN'    DRAMA.  519 

120.  Distinguish  vtonrirtia  from  /israjSaatc ;  Xt£ic  from 
/ueXoc ;  and  the  unity  of  the  fable  from  its  totality. 

121.  What,    according  to   Aristotle,    is   the  nature  of 
poetry  in  general,  and  what  of  tragedy  in  particular  '  What 
is  his  expression  for  this  latter  object,   and  what  meanings 
have  been  assigned  to  it  \     What  is  the  most  probable,  and 
why  \ 

122.  Horace  seems  to  differ  from  Aristotle,  as  to  the 
general  end  of  poetry,  but  this  difference  is  only  apparent ! 

123.  From  what  causes  does  Aristotle  derive  poetry  \ 
How  does  he  prove  imitation  to  be  productive  of  pleasure  \ 
He   applies  the   same    reasoning   in   his    Ehetoric ;  how  \ 
What  theories   have    been  advanced   to   account   for  the 
pleasure    we    receive    from    the    imitation   of   unpleasant 
objects,  such  as  the  distress  in  tragedy ;   give  a  sketch  of 
the  principles,  and  the  objections  to  them. 

124.  In   what   sense   does  Aristotle   make   poetry  and 
music  imitative  arts  '     What  pas-ages  would  you  quote  in 
support  of  that  sense  \     What   is  the  difference  between 
fjiifjitiadai  and  —oitlaOai  n}v  /u«'/ufj<riv  '. 

12-3.  How  does  the  imitation  of  the  drama  differ  from 
that  of  the  epopee,  dithyrambics.  and  nomes  '.  State  how 
noines  differ  from  dithyrambics.  Why  is  /Lu'rpoi>  synonymous 
with  Xo'yoc  .'  H&OG  is  twofold. 

126.  What   species  of  composition  were  the  mimes  of 
Sophroii  and  the  dialogues  of  Socrates  \     How  do  you  shew 
that-  the  dialogues  of  Plato  were  regarded  by  the  ancients 
as  dramatic  ' 

127.  Tragedies  are  divided  into  four  kinds ;  of  which  kind 
is  the  Prometheus  \     How  is  the  third  species  distinguished 
from  comedy '. 

128.  Compare  Horace's  rule  for  the  chorus  with  Aris- 


520  THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

totle's.    "  Officiuin  virile,"  what  2  •   State  the  progress  of  the 
chorus  2 

129.  How  do  the  orator  and  the  poet  agree  and  differ? 
What  is  Aristotle's  definition  of  the  article,  and  Middleton's 
explanation  2 

130.  How  does  Aristotle  distribute  the  different  sorts  of 
words  to  the  different  species  of  poetry  2     What  is  his  real 
opinion  about  the  unities  of  fable,  time,  and  place  2     What 
his  rule  about  the  comparative  length  of  an  epic,  &c.  drama  2 

131.  What  is  Diogenes  Laertius'  statement  about  tetra- 
logies 2     From  what  passage  in  Horace  would  tetralogies 
seem  to  have  been  in  use  on  the  Roman  stage  2 

132.  Aristotle  seems  to  differ  from  Horace  with  regard 
to  the  subject  of  the  drama  2     How  does  it  appear,  and 
how  are  they  reconciled  2     Whether  does  he  prefer  the 
epic  or  the  tragic  2 

133.  When  was  the  drama  first  exhibited  at  Rome  2 
From  whence  taken  2     A  remarkable  proof  of  the  popu- 
larity of  the  FabulcG  Atettance  2     What  was  the  first  per- 
manent theatre  at  Rome  2     Prwtextatas,  togatas,  talerna- 
rias — Describe  them. 

134.  What  is  the  chronological  order  of  the  extant  plays 
of  ^Eschylus  2     Why  is  the  Persse  supposed  to  be  prior  to 
the  Prometheus  2     Under  what  censure  does  the  fable  of 
the  Prometheus  fall  2 

]  35.  To  what  sect  of  philosophy  was  ^schylus  attached  2 
How  is  this  apparent  in  his  plays  2  What  great  comic 
writer  belonged  to  the  same  school  2 

136.  How  do  avaS&aZai  and  SiaantvuZeiv  differ  2   Which 
does  Blomfield  apply  to  the  Persse,  and  which  Boeck  to  the 
Eumenides  2     What  were  the  StSaaKaXiai  2 

137.  When  was  the  first  tetralogy  represented,  and  when 


THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA.  521 

the  last.-  How  many  different  choruses  originally,  and 
what  were  the  respective  prizes :  Which  remained,  and 
what  the  number  of  performers  in  each  .- 

138.  ^Eschvlus  violates  the  unity  of  placej     Sophocles 
that  of  time  ;     What   characters  did   JEschylus  introduce 
into  the  drama  '.     Who  introduced  the  same  into  comedy  ' 

139.  What  improvement?  does  Aristotle  a^ign  to  --E.sch.y- 
:  What  does  Horace  j  Why  do  they  not  assign  the  same  i 

140.  The  Latin  language  is  supposed  to  be  derived  from 
the  Greek  ;    from  what  form  of  it.  and  how  is  this  proved  • 
What  are  the  rules  of  Latin  accentuation,  and  from  what 
do  they  seem  to  be  derived  • 

141.  Enumerate  some  of  the  principal  rules  of  Greek 
accentuation.     State  by  whom  the  accentual  marks  were 
invented,  and  give  the  meaning  of  the  following  words  as 
they  vary  in  accent,  viz. — OVKOVV.  vtoc.  vojuoc,  irtiOu).  wjuoc, 
?},  TrpwToroKOC,  aXXa,  njwr.  a\i]0e^,   /Stoc,  Ota,  0£wv,  Xao?, 

/UOl'f),   /JUOtOt,  OjUWC  I 

142.  What  does  the  mark  of  the  grave  accent  imply. 
Has  a  word  two  accents  at  the  same  time  ;     What  is  the 
accentuation    of  tori  '     Give    an    instance   of  enclitics  in 
English.     Mention  some  of  the  differences  of  accentuation 
in  the  different  dialects. 

143.  What  is  Person's  rule  for  the  insertion  of  the  aug- 
ment  in    Attic    Greek  '.     Does   he  admit   any   exception } 
What  is  Elmsley's  rule  with  regard  to   the  number  of  tri- 
syllabic feet  in  a  senarius  1 

144.  What  is  Dawes's  rule  about  a  short  vowel  meeting 
a  middle  consonant  and  a  liquid  I     Mention  Person's  modi- 
fication of  it.     What  is  Elmsley's  rule  for  the  elision  in  the 
beginning  of  words,  and  Dawes's  for  the  initial  p  ;      What 
Is  synapheia,  and  in  what  sorts  of  verse  does  it  occur '. 


522  THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

145.  What  are  the  parts  of  a  tragedy  Kara  iroiav  ?  State 
their  relative  importance.     How  are  tragedies  divided  Kara 

TO  TTOffOV  ? 

146.  How  do  jUtreijSaorte,  /ufrajSoXr/,  TTEpormia,  Trapaflaaiz, 
differ  2     How  do  a  single  and  a  simple  fable  differ  2 

147.  To  whom  does  Aristotle  ascribe  the  invention  of 
comedy  'i      What  was  the  nature  of  his  pieces  \     A  play 
modelled  upon  one  of  his  remains  ?     Who  among  the  Athe- 
nians first  wrote  comedy  ?      The   inventor  of  the  satyric 
drama  ? 

.  148.  What  does  Aristotle  mean  by  applying  the  epithet 
Tperyticwraroe  to  Euripides  2  On  what  grounds  does  Longi- 
nus  praise  Euripides  for  his  style?  How  does  Aristotle 
censure  him  2 

149.  From  Phrynichus's  introduction  of  female  charac- 
ters,   Bentley   argues   against  a   common  reading  of  the 
Arundel  Marbles? 

150.  What  was  the  first  law  against  dramatic  exhibi- 
tions, and  how  long  did  it  continue  2     What  changes  took 
place  in  the  Greek  comedy  2     Mention  the  principal  writers 
in  each  period  ? 

151.  Mention  the  names  of  the  supposed  inventors  and 
perfecters  of  the  several  species  of  the   drama,  viz. — the 
tragic,  comic,  and  satyric. 

152.  What  remarkable  circumstance  synchronised  with, 
and  seems  to  have  operated  on   the   improvement  of  the 
drama  2     When  was  the  first  stone  theatre  erected,  and 
why? 

153.  What   are   the   different   choruses  mentioned   by 
Lysias  ?     How  many  composed  each  ?     What  is  the  cyclic 
chorus  2     Does  Beutley  prefer  KUK-XIKOC  or  KUK-Xioc  2     What 
does  Blomfield  suppose  the  x°poc  avSpwv  to  have  been  ? 


THE    GRECIAN    DKAWA. 

154.  The  improvements  of  ^Eschylus  we  find  in  Phryni- 
chus,  and  of  Sophocles  in  ^Eschylus,  why  ?     The  names  of 
yEschylus's  actors  and  scene-painters  are  preserved  ? 

155.  When,  according  to  the  Marbles,  did  the  dramatic 
contests  commence  I     At  what  season  of  the  year,  what 
months,  and  at  what  feasts  were  they  held  ;  Give  the  names 
and  traditionary  reasons  for  the  three  days  of  the  festival 
iv  \invmg. 

156.  Give  the  accurate  meaning  of  the  phrases  and  words 
t^ao^cit.   ETrcto-oSta,  utravaaraaiq,  trivtiv  ra  iKoia,  vTTOKpm'jc, 
au/uAij,  (jvctv  wpoc  Atovuffov. 

157.  Why,  according  to  Schlegel,  does  tragedy  please, 
notwithstanding  that  its  subjects  are  frequently  disagree- 
able ?     How  does  the  same  writer  illustrate  the  difference 
between  epic  and  tragic  poetry  { 

158.  Agamemnon  is  introduced  by^Eschylus  in  a  chariot ; 
mention  what  instances  of  gods  occur  to  you  as  introduced 
by  machinery  i  do  you  remember  any  other  mortal  intro- 
duced in  a  chariot  I 

159.  What  is  the  proper  meaning  of  verbal  adjectives  in 
nog  and  riov  ?     How  are  they  formed  and  accented  I     Dis- 
tinguish between  ^TJTC,  /urjSt ;    ours,  ovti  ;  OVKOVV,  OVK-OVV  : 
tia.  cia  I 

160.  "What  are  the  distinctive  features  of  the  old,  mid- 
dle, and  new  comedy?     Who    was   the   first  comic   poet 
among  the  Athenians  i     Where  was  Aristophanes   born, 
and  at  what  period  i   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  I  What 


524  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

are  the  rules  of  the  iambic  tetrameter  cat.  as  used  by  Aris- 
tophanes 2  How  do  tragic  and  comic  tetrameter  trochaics 
differ  2  What  is  Person's  observation  as  to  the  second  foot 
of  a  tragic  trochaic  tetrameter  2 

163.  What  is  the  anapaestic  measure  peculiar  to  Aristo- 
phanes 2    What  its  rules,  and  what  restriction  as  to  caesuras 
common  to  it  with  the  trochaic  tragic  tetrameter  2 

164.  How  does  Person  account  for  the  apparent  viola- 
tions of  prosody  in  Aristophanes,  and  what  examples  does 
he  give 2 

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  2     By  whom  was  the  former  devised,  and  to  whom 
do  we  owe  the  successive  improvements  in  the  latter  2 

167.  A  third  species  of  Grecian  drama  has  been  traced 
as  existing  at  a  remote  period  ;  among  what  people  2    How 
was  it  denominated,  and  what  form  of  the  modern  drama 
did  it  resemble  2 

168.  What  magistrate  presided  at  each  of  the  dramatic 
festivals  2     How  were  the  actors  and  choruses  appointed  2 
Who  decided  at  the  contests  2     What  rewards  were  given 
originally  2     What  in  after  time  2     Were  they  coiifined  to 
the  successful  author  2 

169.  How  was  the  rank  of  the  personages  on  the  Grecian 
stage  indicated,  and  the  quarter  from  whence  they   were 
supposed  to  come  2 

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  .- 

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  \     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  I 

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  ? 

181.  What,  according  to  Schlegel,  is  the  peculiar  cha- 
racter of  the  Greek  tragedy,  and  what  of  the  old  Greek 
comedv  ? 


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  tvt-^ypa^fiv,  lvi%v- 
;  vvv,  vvv  ;   o/)a,  a/oa  ;    iSou,  tSou  ;    irtpirv\tivt  tT 

;  avafJLtTpttaOai,  [itrpiiaOai  ;  K<U  ntu^  TTWC  icat  ; 


184.  What  is  Dawes'  rules  as  to  the  tenses  with  which 
ow  /UT),  OTTWC  M^  may  be  connected  ?     What  is  the  differ- 
ence of  government  between  \prj  and  StT  ?     How  do  tragic 
and  comic  poets  differ  as  to  the  use  of  irtpl  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- 
Sta  ?     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 
jEschylus'  visit  to  Sicily  is  inaccurate.     How  does  Boeckh 
reconcile  the  several  opinions  ?     State  his  opinion  as  to  the 
acting  of  the  Eumenides. 

188.  What  is  the  tetralogy  of  the  Orestiad  ?     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 

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  1 

191.  What  are  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  the 
chorus  of  the  ancient  drama  ?     What  instances  have  we  in 
the  modern  drama  of  its  successful  revival  ? 

1.92.  What  is  the  meaning  of  KOTO.  o\iaiv,  juovocrpo^ica, 
lirojiStKo.  Kara  irfpiKoirriv  t£  ojuotwv  ?  What  is  Canter's  divi- 
sion of  the  choric  odes  } 

193.  Explain   the  phrases.    Kara    £1/70,    KOTO   <rrot\ovz, 
•fifjLi\opia,  ot^opfa,  avri^opca,  rpt^o/ota.  juEtrv^opoc. 

194.  What  is  the  number  of  plays  that  have  been  attri- 
buted to  Sophocles  •     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  "umifii  that  have  a  transitive, 
and  those  that  have  an  intransitive  signification.     What  is 
the  difference  of  /LIT)  before  an  indicative,  and  JUT)  before  a 
subjunctive  mood  ;    When  may  different  moods  be  connected 
together  ? 

196.  Ec<ro|iiai  differently  derived  by  the   Ionic  and  Attic 
poets  ?  Give  instances  of  the  former  from  Homer.  Whence 
arises  the  construction  called  nominativus  pendens  (     When 
is  the  genitive  absolute  to  be  used  ' 

197.  CQ?  is  sometimes  put   for  £«c — Mention  the  usual 
limitation,  and  give  an  example  from  Thucydides  to  the 
reverse,  that  is  quoted  by  Matthiae  (     Whence  does  this 
substitution  arise  \ 

198.  What  does  the  participle  signify  when  put  with  icat  \ 
The  future  is   sometimes  put  for  the  imperative — What  is 
the  construction  • 


528  THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

199.  Give  the  Doric  and  Ionic  variations  of  the  personal 
pronouns,  and  of  the  verb  a/zt.     Write  down  the  enclitics 
and  atonies.     When  do  enclitics  retain,  when  lose,  and 
when  transfer  their  accents  2 

200.  What  is  the  rule  for  the  accentuation  of  contracted 
syllables,  and  what  for  that  of  words  whose  last  accented 
vowels  have  experienced  elision  2 

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  2 

202.  What  evidence  is  there  in  favour  of  the  claims  of 
the  Megarians  to  the  invention  of  comedy  2     What  was 
the  metre  of  the  mimes  of  Sophron,  and  what  Latin  poet 
is  said  to  have  imitated  them  2 

203.  What  was  the  nature  of  Homer's  Margites !  What 
is  the  source  of  our  information  on  the  subject  2  and  what 
influence  had  it  on  comedy  I 

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  2     What  was  the  political 
scope  of  the  "  Knights.""  and  of  the  "  Acharnians  2" 

205.  How  was  the  change  brought  about  from  the  old 
to  the  middle  comedy  2     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  2 

206.  The  play  of  the  "  Clouds"  has  been  considered  as 
one  of  a  tetralogy  :  What  were  the  others,  and  the  general 
scope  of  them  2     What  was  the  probable  occasion  and  sub- 
ject of  the  irvTivr]  2 

207.  What  was  the  legal  age  for  exhibiting  a  dramatic 
piece  2    How  is  this  point  doubtful  2 


THE   GRECIAN    DRAMA.  529 

208.  The  choral  odes  of  ./Eschylus  aro  divided  into  two 
classes,  by  a  distinction  which  does  not  occur  in  Sopho- 
cles? 

209.  Mention  the  principal  Doric  dithyrambic  poets,  and 
their  countries.      What  was  the   nature   of  the  ancient 
choral  poetry  of  Sicyon  and  of  ^Egina  ' 

210.  What  was  the  iraXaia  -pay^cia  of  the  Boeotian 
inscriptions,   according  to  Boeckh  ;     How  is   this  distin- 
guished from  the  scenic  tragedy  in  the  Orchomenian  and 
Thespian  inscriptions,  respectively  • 

211.  Distinguish  the  TTOITJT'JC*  rpa-ytu^oc,  and  viroKptTriq 
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  \  What  metre  is  called 
Euripidean  \ 

213.  What   instance   may  be   given  of  the   chorus  in 
Euripides  allowing  immoral  acts  •    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  • 

21  o.  General  ride  of  the  Paeonic  system'  -What  feet 
are  ordinarily  admissible  into  the  epichoriambic,  and  what 
KOT'  avrnraQtiav  I  What  is  meant  by  the  avaK\w/jL£vov  ? 
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  '.  What  rule  does  he  lay  down 
concerning  the  csesura  in  dimeter  auapaesties,  occurring  in 

M     M 


530  THE    GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

regular  systems  2     In  such  systems  can  a  dactyl  be  followed 
by  an  anapaest  2 

217.  Of  the   improvements  in  tragedy,  which   Horace 
asserts  to  have  been  introduced  by  jEschylus,  some  have 
been  ascribed  to  an  earlier  tragedian  2 

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  2     This  indictment 
of  ^evi'a   has    been  confounded   with  another  accusation 
brought  forward  by  the  same  person  2 

220.  In  what  year  did  Aristophanes  first  exhibit  in  this 
own  name,  what  was  the  object  of  the  play  then  produced, 
and  what  success  did  it  meet  with  2 

221 .  How  did  the  absence  of  the  irapaflaaiQ  become  a 
distinguishing  mark  of  the  middle  comedy  2     What  were 
the  component  parts  of  a  7ra/oaj3a<r<e  2     What  was  the  num- 
ber of  the  comic  chorus  2 

222.  During  the  period  of  the  old  comedy  there  was  but 
one  restriction  upon  the  poets,  which  we  know  of  with  his- 
torical certainty  2 

223.  What  canon  does  Porsori  lay  down  respecting  the 
use  of  such  words  as  £<roSov  by  the  comic  writers  ?     State 
the  laws  of  the  Aristophanic  anapsestic  metre.     What  li- 
cences are  allowed  in  it  2 

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  2 

226.  Distinguish  between  OTTWC  «i>  with  the  optative,  and 
with  the  subjunctive ;  between  ov  /ur/  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  JEschylus  in  the 
delineation  of  some  of  the  dramatis  personse. 

231.  Kurd  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  uller  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  \ 

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  \ 

234.  Siivern  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  cfiorus  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  ?     A  nd  what  other  differences  are  observable  be- 
tween the  Greek  and  English  drama,  as  to  plot,  moral, 
passion,  and  character  ?     Compare  JEschylus  with  Shaks- 
peare  in  the  last  mentioned  particulars  ? 

238.  What  kind  of  events  and  character  of  a  hero  is  the 
most  proper  for  tragedy,  according  to  Aristotle,  and  for 
what  reasons  ? 

23.9.  What  are  the  characteristics  of  the  Ionic  and  Attic 
dialects  as  to  augments,  and  contractions  I  And  what  is 
the  probable  origin  of  them  ? 

240.  What  is  the  difference  between  tpttv,  \tytiv,  yryti- 
vnv,  and  between  TJKW,  tp^ouat,  ijXBov,  ttfju. 

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  tho 
fifth  foot  of  a  tragic  senarius  be  a  spondee  ? 

242.  What  is  the  caesura  ?     In  a  senarius,  where  must  it 
fall  to  be  most  harmonious  ?     How  many  kinds  are  there  of 
this  caesura  ? 

243.  Explain  the  qnasi-cceswra,  and  in  what  manner  the 
harmony  of  lines  is  improved  by   it,   where  the  ca?sura  is 
wanting ;   also  the  pause,  and  the  reason  for  it.     In  lines 
which  have  neither  caesura  nor  quasi-ccrsura,  what  may  tho 
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? 


1HE    GRECIAN'    DHA.MA.  533 

24-5.  State  the  rules  for  the  construction  of  the  trochaic 
tetrameter  catalectic,  and  of  the  anapaestic  tetrameter 
catalectic.  In  the  former  is  an  anapeest  admitted  ?  In 
what  even  feet  of  the  latter  is  a  dactyl  admitted,  and  whero 
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  ;     Which 
of  the  extant  plays  contains  most  of  this  metre  ? 

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  ; 

248.  At  what  time  of  the  year  was  the  Athenian  vintage  ; 
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,  toxtua,  /uAoe,  v/^voe,  TrapoSoe,  (rraaifiov, 
ico/ujtioc»  &SatricaAoe  TOV  -\opov,    Seen?,  Xvaif,  airtpyaata^  iir- 


2ol.  Determine  the  usage  of  the  tragic  writers  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  <r, 
as  in  i'(T<To/ucu,  fjiiaao^.  (4).  The  quantity  of  diphthongs 
in  the  middle  of  words,  such  as.  oloc,  Totovroe,  TTOIOC, 
e.  and  the  quantity  of  a  •  pricativum. 


534«  THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

252.  Compare  the  political  and  literary  state  of  Athens 
in  the  time  of  .ZEschylus  with  that  of  England  in  the  time  of 
Shakespeare.     What  points  of  resemblance,  and  what  of 
difference,  may  be  observed  in  the  style  and  genius  of  these 
poets  2 

253.  Construct  a  Grecian  theatre.     Explain  the  meaning 
of  the  following  terms  :   Ai/vatov,  Sia£w/nara,  KtpKiStg,  j3ou- 
Xctmicov,    I^rj/Bticov,     op\v}<JTpa,    dvfjitXri,    Spo/u 

£{<roSot,  <rio)i'/j,  Xoyfiov,  irpoaKijViov,  vTrocnajvtov, 

jSao-iXetoc,   OtoXoytiov,  atcopeu,  fjiri^avi],  icara/3X?}juara,  yipa- 

VOC,     /3|001>T£IOV,      KEjOai/VtKTKOTTEtOl/,      (TKOTTTJ, 


,  avXata,  irpotSpiai, 
,  juo/o/zoXvKt<ov,  70jO-yov£tov,  fl 
£/u|3aTOC    KoXTTWjua,   XtTr^v  ""oST/jOT/c,   avpfjLa,   -^vaTis,   iuanov, 
£^wjutc,   <$i<t>Qipa,  7T£7rXov,  oyKoe,  /uaaxaXt<TT^|0£c. 

254.  Explain  the  terms  ifjiniXtia,  KopEak,,  <r/Ktvvtc>  i?  TTU/U- 
pt^rj,  17  7VjLivo7rat8iK/},  ?j  v7ro/r>xr/JuaTtX*''     ^ive  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  2  and 
how  is  it  limited  in  Homer  ? 

257.  What  do  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  JUT)  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.  535 

of  coKtiu  •  Which  is  the  more  modern,  and  which  the  more 
poetical  \ 

260.  What  play,?,  extant,  lost,  or  of  which  fragments 
only  remain,  were  written  on  subjects  connected  with  CEdi- 
dipus  and  his  family  by  ^Eschylus,  Sophocles,  and  Euri- 
pides ; 

'261.  How  is  the  Doric  dialect  in  the  choruses  to  be  ac- 
counted for  \  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  \      W as  the 
same  licence  in  this  respect  allowed  to  the  comedians  .- 

263.  What  are  the  expressions  for   utinam  in  Greek  ? 
Give  instances  of  the  imitation  of  the  Greek  mode  of  ex- 
pression from  the  Latin  port*. 

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  X,  ju,  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  Person. 

267.  Shew  from  Horace,    (1).  Who  was  the  inventor  of 
iambic  verse  ?     (-).  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  ^Eschylus,  occurred  in  Persia,  Ionia, 
Greece  and  Italy. 

269.  Institute  a  brief  comparison   between   ^Eschylus, 


536  THE   ttRECIAN   DKAMA. 

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  TrpaaatD  and  Tr/octo-aojuat,  $/ua£w  and  <j>pa£o- 
fiai,  epvw  and  tjovo/ieu,  rtoi  and  TIO/UCU,  OiaOat  vo/xoy   and 
Oelvai  v6fj.ov. 

271.  What  are  the  general  significations  of  verbal  sub- 
stantives in  T/aov,  (as  KOJUKTT-JOOV),  of  adjectives  in  rticoc,  and 
of  verbs  in  <7/ca>  and  <T«O>  ?     What  Latin  terminations  cor- 
respond to  the  two  last  ? 

272.  When  is  irplv  av  with  the  subjunctive  preferred  to 
Tr/aiv  with  the  infinitive  ?     Can  av  be  joined  with  the  indi- 
cative present  ? 

273.  Distinguish  between  jur/xoe  and  ^f/icoc — rtKjua/o,  rrvfj.- 
|3oXov,  aijfjiiiov — £u  crfjSetv,  tuerfjStty — ^0X0?,  KOTO? — (Ktrjjr, 
TT/ooorpoTreuoe — TTTW^OC,  TTEVJJ? — ovap,  VTTOJO — U7rai0poc>  VTTOI- 
0/jt0e — rpoTrata,    rpo^ata — jUTjrpo/crovoe,   /irjrpoKTOfoc — ouSe, 
owr£ — fir]$c,  jujjrt — Sta,  $ia — TTOU,  Trot,  TT?;,  TTOU,  Trot,  TT»J. 

274.  The  beacons  which  announced  the  destruction  of 
Troy  were  stationed  on  the  following  mountains  :  Ida,  Her- 
niseus  (in  Lemnos),  Athos,  Macistus  (in  Eubcea),  Messa- 
pius  and  Cithseron  (in  Boaotia),  ^Egiplanctus  (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, 
Mycense,  Delphi,  and  Delos. 

27o.  What  was  the  motive  of  ^"Eschylus  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  Xoyoc  in  the  early  Attic  drama  ?    What 


THE   GRECIAJV   DRAMA.  537 

should  we  infer  from  analog}-  to  have  been  the  original 
meaning  of  roiAoyta  ?  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  \opol  rtrpaywvoi  ?  De- 
scribe the  modes  of  entering.  Kara  i^vyo,  and  KUTU  <rroi- 


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   Choephorce  of 
^Eschylus  ;  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  rvy%avtiv, 
according  as  it  is,  or  is  not,  followed  by  a  participle  ?     Dis- 
tinguish accurately  £;rojucu,  /ulret/ut,  CIWKW.   in  their  general 
usages. 

283.  Explain  the  usage   of  irolv  with  different  moods. 
Distinguish  between  TTOIV  Sttirviiv,  Trmv  Suirvriaat.  iroiv  c«- 

Mention,  the  distinction  between     aXrivri  and 


538  THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

v»jv£juta,  jSaatXev^  and  rupavvog,  OOOOOQ  and  0pacro£, 
and  icoXtovrj,  0//K»j  and  Trupa. 

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.  BaK^og  ore  TOITTOV  KO.Ta.yoi  ^opov.      Explain  Tptrrov 
Xopov,  and  mention  what  the  three  were.     In  what  months 
were   they  celebrated  ?     What  were   the  HiQuiyta,  Xote, 
and  Xurpcu  ?      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 
6c,  cjoryt,  ocmc  and  oort,  and  also  of  KOI  and  ri. 

292.  Mention  instances  of  the  great  inconveniences  to 


539 

which  the  ancient  tragedians  were  subjected  by  the  perpe- 
tual presence  of  the  chorus. 

293.  Mention  the  difference  between  otrioc  and  Sncaioc, 
and  ^>poi/rjMa>  "pov,   vaoc,   rifitvo^  and   errjKoc,  also 
0pTjv,  vovg  and  "$v\i].     What  is  the  usual  force  of 

Trapd  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  ivixa  —  fyaivirai  and 
piroc  and   rptratoc  —  rafyoq  and    ra$r\  —  l\inq    and 

evoQ,   vv/j.<j)ri  and  yuuij  —  ^ouAtuo)  and  SouAow  — 
and  cat/uwv  —  :roAie  and  aerru  —  ^EVO<:,   (pi\oq  and  Irat- 


296.  Explain  the  following  idiomatic  expressions  :  1. 
<j>i]V  avvfji(f>ov.     2.  oiaO'  ovv  o  coaaov  ;  3.  ov  -yap  otSa 

TOC   KfKTTJjUtVOC'        4.     TTEOWflra    TU^^aVEt.        5.     TV\ag    atUEV     Ct 
OtKTOU  tX0''      ^*  "^<*  T'C  XC£'a   <T'   'M0^  '    7.   OUTOC,  Tl  TTaff^'C  » 

8.   £y  KOI  0ovow<TT)c  6/Ltjua  (Tu-yicAeum  TO  (rov.     Which  of  these 
forms  have  been  imitated  by  the  Latin  poets  ? 

297.  Explain  the  terms,  irpoaqSia,  iifiraaiq,  avaorte,  osu- 
TJJC,  jSapurtjc  ;  and  give  the  meaning  of  these  terms  in  the 
Scholia,   TO  t^TJc*  &a  /ulcrou,  airo  KOJI/OU,   ypa^fTat  irpo?  TJ)V 
Sonjcrjv,  fi£TO\ri  avrl  /o/j/uaTOC- 

298.  Give  the  quantity  of  the  following  feet  :   ionicus  a 
majore,  pseon  secundus,  epitritus  tertius,  proceleusmaticus, 
antispastus,  choriambus,  bacchius,  creticus,  molossus.  ana- 
paestus,  iambus,  trochseus,  pyrrichus.    Give  also  their  deri- 
vations ;  and  explain  the  terms,  hephthemimer,  hemiholius, 
and  brachycatalectic. 

299.  Trace  briefly  the  different  variations  in  iambic  metre 
from  the  time  of  the  lambographi  to  the  age  of  Aristo- 
phanes, and  show  that  they  took  place  both  in  manner  and 


THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA 

extent  pretty  nearly  as  might  have  been  expected.  Institute 
a  brief  comparison  between  the  accounts  of  Aristotle  and 
Horace  respecting  this  metre. 

300.  Distinguish  between  TTTW^O?  and  irivi^,  Kotpbe  and 
Ypovoe,   yafitlv  and  yafttiaOui.     When  was  rupavvoc  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  KUTI,  KOTO. 

302.  What  is  the  measure  of  the  verse  termed  EvpariStiov 
Ttaaapt<jKai$eiiaav\\afiov  ?     Give  the  rules  of  the  comic  te- 
trameter catalectic.     Specify  the  licences  and  peculiarities 
of  comic  dimeter  iambics. 

303.  Explain  the  analogy  between  an  iambic  senarius, 
and  a  catalectic  tetrameter  trochaic.     In  what  case  is  the 
second  foot  of  the  latter  required  to  be  a  trochee  ? 

304.  Specify  the  distinctions  between  tragic  and  comic 
metre,  iambic  and  trochaic. 

305.  State  the  Aristophanic  anapaestic.     State  also  somo 
of  the  licences  admitted  in  this  verse,  and  account  for  them. 

306.  Specify  the  Ionic  forms  used  by  the  tragedians.  A  re 
tc  and  tie  used  indiscriminately  by  comic  writers  ? 

307.  Prove  by  analogy  that  iXtetvbt;  is  not  an  Attic  word. 
How  are  the  compounds  of  j«'pae,  Kpuie?  formed  ? 

308.  Which  is  the  correct  method  of  writing  ypa/xji'  t<m, 
XptC  t<m,  or  ypcifjifjiii  VTI,  x/>£t'a  '<""'>  an(l  wnv  '* 

309.  When   is  a   verse   termed    aavvaprr\TO(;  ?       When 
logaoedicus  ?      When   ithyphallic  ?      When  prosodiacus  ? 
When  polyschematistus  ? 

310.  What  feet  are  admissible  in  an  Ionic  verse  a  inajoro  ? 


THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA.  541 

When  is  the  verse  termed  Epionie  ?     How  is  an  Ionic  verse 
a  minore  constituted  ?     State  the  licences  in  both. 

311.  Explain  the  nature  of  choriambic  metre.     What  is 
meant  by  an  epichoriambic  verse  ?     How  is  an  antispast 
composed  ?     Hence  deduce  the  various  kinds  of  antispasts. 

312.  Define  the  dochmius.     Of  what  does  a  Pherecra- 
tean  verse  consist  ?    State  the  peculiarity  in  the  Glyconeus. 
What  feet  are  admissible  in  pseonic  metre  ? 

313.  What  is  a  Glyconeus  polyschematistus  ?    Define  the 
Priapeian,  Eupolidean,  and  Cratinean  verse. 

314.  Distinguish  between  Xa/3av  and  Aa^m*  ytpac.  alrtfu 
find  i^aiTtti),  Ttpaaaiiq  KOKWC  and  TTOIHQ  KOKMS,   /ua£oe  and 
ftaoTos,  a&u  and  tt£tw,  tmje,   ft^ye  and  itSye?   ^tXoTrarpte, 
<fn\6iro\iQ  and  ^tXt'XXtjv,  ytvw  and  •yruo/uat,  TTOOC  rewrote  and 

TOUTO,  avvTti)  and  avvit).  O.TTTM  and  airrouai.  Kripv^ai  and 


315.  What  is  the  construction  of  rwyxaf^  Xayxavw,  an<l 
?    State  the  construction  of  $8ovtw,  and  give  a  parallel 

instance  of  invideo  from  Horace. 

316.  How  are  ntfivriuai.   alaOavouat,  and  similar  words 
construed  with  participles  ?     Give  analogous  instances  from 
Latin  writers. 

31  7.  What  cases  does  tKTroSwi;  take  after  it  ?  What 
peculiar  force  frequently  belongs  to  the  pronoun  68s  in  the 
tragedians  ?  Is  ijSe  altogether  a  Homeric  word  ? 

318.  Define  the  force  of  TTOTE  in  interrogations.     What 
Latin  word  corresponds  to  it  ?     In  what  case  are  the  tra- 
gedians partial  to  the  particle  rot  ? 

319.  What  is  the  rule  respecting  the  use  of  the  Doric  dia- 
lect in  anapsestics  ? 

320.  Which  is  the  Attic  form,  *AX<"KOC,  or  'Axaaicoe  ? 
Does  Homer  say  /3uj  'Hp«icX»jfoj,  iiirip*  or  oWep,  and  why  ? 


542  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

321.  What  is  the  quantity  of  comparatives  in  IMV  in  Attic 
and  Ionic  writers  ?     Compare  the  usage  of  0au/ua£w  and 
miror. 

322.  Explain  the  force  of  JUT)  av  ye.     What  meaning  do 
and  Kotjuow  sometimes  convey  ?     In  what  sense  is 

uently  understood  ? 

323.  Define  the  term  Datismus.     Compare  the  construc- 
tion of  aXXaaerw  and  muto.     Compare  the  usage  of 

and  vestigium. 

324.  To  what  figure  is  the  expression 

referred  ?     Cite  parallel  instances  from  Greek,  Latin,  and 
English  authors. 

325.  Give  instances  of  a  double  superlative  from  Greek 
and  Latin  writers.     Under  what  limitations  is  the  article 
used  for  the  pronoun  relative  ? 

326.  In  what  case  are  the  particles  aXXa  yap  of  frequent 
occurrence  ?     Notice  the  coincidence  in  the  use  of  sed  enim. 

327.  Give  instances  of  the  figure  anastrophe.     Also  of 
that  termed  VOTE/JOV  irponpov.     In  what  case  do  the  old 
Attics  use  a  plural  verb  with  a  neuter  plural  ? 

328.  Illustrate  the  senses  of  tva  with  the  subjunctive, 
optative,  and  indicative.     What  tenses  of  the  subjunctive 
are  used  in  negative  propositions  after  JUT)  or  ou  /LIT/  ? 

329.  Cite  instances  of  si  in  Latin  used  as  the  Greek  a  for 
iitinam.     What  is  the  construction  of  the  impersonals  &7, 

i],  and  the  substantives  x/°Et^  XPn^->  X/°£t'a  ^ 

330.  How  does  the  quantity  of  Xvw,  of  icaXoc,   and  of 
or  ^apoe,  differ  in  Homer  and  the  tragedians  ?     De- 
fine the  figure  oxymoron,  and  give  instances. 

331.  Explain  the  force  of  <m  with  a  participle,  as  6  atl 
^vvTvyvv.     Compare  a  similar  use  of  semper  in  Cicero. 

332.  Which  of  the  expressions  JUT) 


THE    GRECIAN'   DRAMA.  543 

/to)  fit^y  are  correct ;     Give  instances  of  the  figure 
termed  by  Lesljpnax  TO  <rx*J,ua  "ATTIKOV. 

333.  What  is  the  rule  respecting  the  use  of  JE  after  KOI 
/urji1.   ou  ju»)i>,  icac'rot.   <tc.  by  the  Attic?  ?     Enumerate  the 
Doric  forms  used  by  the  Attics. 

334.  Give  the  rule  respecting  the  position  of  the  proper 
name,  the  pronoun,  and  the  particle  ct,   in  transferring  an 
address  from  one  person  to  another. 

335.  Explain  the  difference  in  usage  between  t/uou,  t/uot, 
(fit,  and  /uou,  /*<><,  pe.     In  what  cases  are  jiij  ov  joined  to- 
gether in  the  same  sentence  ? 

336.  What  is  the  meaning  and  force  of  /3oi/c  and  ITTTTO^ 
in  composition  1     Show  the  force  of  the  particle  av  when 
repeated  in  a  sentence. 

337.  What   are   the  different  usages   of  the  imperfect 
tense  ?     What  is  the  government  of  o  avrog  ?     Givr-  in- 
stances of  idem  having  the  same  government  in  Latin. 

338.  Distinguish  between  £»;ju<£o/oei  and  £uvaAAay»;.  Kpariw 
and  ap%(i),  Btutpbg  and  irptafivg,  JKC  rjus'o)  and  dTro^Tj/ulw.  aim) 
and  0t'c,  Tjictu  and  ipxpnai,  airiifti  and  airip\o/jiai.   a-tyiero^ 
and  aTfXturjjroc,  oArj0£c  and  aXrjOtc  in  interrogate 
tences,  yvwro^  and  -y VUXTTOC,  ctaropog  and  Staropoc,  KOI  TroToc 
and  TTotoc  KOI.  Trtpovt]  and  TropTn';. 

339.  What  does  the  particle  ci)  denote  in  interrogative 
sentences  ?     Explain  the  difference  between  ^pa^aq  t\(bj 
and  eypa-ia. 

340.  What  is  the  meaning  of  ouroc  when  it  denotes  the 
person  spoken  to,  and  of  occ  ain)p  when  it  denotes  the  per- 
son speaking  ? 

341.  Give  the  different  usages  of  the  middle  voice.     Ls 
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  aKovto  when  joined  with  the 
adverbs  Kaic^e,  at,  &c.  and  show  by  instances  that  audio 
was  used  in  the  .same  sense  by  the  Latins. 

344.  What  is  the  meaning  of  irpbg  with  a  genitive  case  ? 
Explain  the  meaning  of  aoi  and  juot  when  said  to  be  redun- 
dant. 

345.  Explain  the  force  of  the  prepositions  in  the  words 
eirfttAf|jUa,    rrooo-Ka/ua*,    ffc^atvw 

7roo7rovfo//ai,  aviustvmenc,  Karaxrco'to, 

340.  What  is  the  quantity  of  the  penult,  of  the  following 
words  in  Homer  and  the  tragedians,  i'<roe,  ^t'Xoc,  "A/o»jc» 
vmv  (lacrymaruni),  SOK/OUWI'  (lacrymans),  0ww, 
the  quantity  of  the  first  syllable  of  mtrtc?  "»?!«'?  Ouyarij/o, 
and  the  last  of  fteyo^  and  ToXac-  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  we  used  for  tit;  in  the 
Attic  and  in  the  Ionic  dialect  ? 

349.  Distinguish  between  r/icojuev  fwvOavsiv  and  I}KO/J*I' 
HaOtiao/jiivoi,  OTTOU  and  o?rot,  orw^w  and  tKUM^w,  080?  and 
uSoe,  dXaaOai  and  TrXovacrSat,  a'aru  and  rroXtc?    ou  /IT)  Xaj^3yc 
and  ou  \i]\Jj£i,  tl  Bifjiiz  and  »J  Bifuq. 

350.  What  is  the  general  meaning  and  usage  of  verbal 
adjectives  in  ifiot;  ?     What  is  the  signification  of  the  article 
with  an  adverb  ? 

351.  What  is  the  meaning  of  e^w  with  an  adverb,  or  the 
accusative  neuter  of  an  adjective  ?     Give  the  distinct  mean- 
ings of  <f>v\u(T(Tw  in  the  active  and  middle  voices. 

352.  Under  what  circumstances  may  a  short  syllable  be 
lengthened  at  the  end  of  a.n  anapsestic  line  ? 


THE  GRECIAN   DRAMA.  5  4-5 

353.  Which  of  the  following  expressions  is  correct,  and 
which  solecistical,  Trot  rig  t A0y ;  TTOI  rig  av  IA0y ;  Trot  rig 
t\0oi ;  Trot  nq  av  ZXOoi ; 

o54.  In  what  tenses  and  persons  is  the  subjunctive  used, 
where  we  should  regularly  expect  the  imperative  ? 

355.  Of  the  forms  a50tc  and  aur/c>  which  was  used  by 
Homer,  and  which  by  the  Attic  writers  ? 

356.  Under  what  circumstances  has  otoe  the  sense  of 
possibilis  ?      What  is  the  meaning  of  the  future  participle 
after  verbs  of  motion  ? 

357.  Give  the  different  meanings  of  KCU  /L»JI>  in  the  tragic 
writers.     What  is  the  signification  of  Trapo  with  the  geni- 
tive, dative,  and  accusative,  and  what  its  primary  sense  ? 

358.  Distinguish    accurately    between    ^iXoe,    IraTpoc, 
Ktvog,  Trpo^tvoc,  and  £o/ou£tvoc.      What  are  the  several 
meanings  of  ou  /XT),  and  ov  ? 

359.  Under  what  circumstances  is  the  article  prefixed 
to  an  adjective  in  the  tragic  writers  ? 

360.  What  is  the  quantity  of  the  last  syllable  of  accusa- 
tives in  a  from  nominatives  in  tvg  ?     Quote  exceptions,  if 
any. 

361.  Under  what  circumstances  do  nominatives  or  accu- 
satives, put  absolutely,  generally  occur  ? 

362.  When  may  the  nominative  plural  masculine  apply 
to  one  woman  ? 

363.  What  is  the  quantity  of  the  last  syllable  of  adverbs 
ending  in  tt  or  i.     And  which  is  the  proper  orthography  ? 

364.  What  vowels  and  diphthongs  form  in  scansion  only 
one  syllable  with  ov  ?     Quote  instances. 

365.  Explain  and  illustrate  the  figure  called    Oropism. 
Whence  and  why  was  it  so  called  ? 

366.  Show  the  difference  in    meaning  of  the  following 

>  x 


546  THE    GRECIAN    DRAMA. 

words    in   tho  active  and    middle  voices  : 

Xacrcro),    pvh),    Xpcut),  StSafficw,    (frcuvto,    iroptva),   UTTTW, 

TTCtlHi). 

367.  What  is  the  force  of  the  prepositions  in  the  compo- 
sition of  tho  following  words  :  e^am'to,  Trapajue/jSojuat,  trpoar- 
Tt'0j?ft(,  jU£0('arj]/.t/,  ciyarXjjjiu,  Trprx^au'tu,    Karti^w 

),  7TQoXa/.{j3cu;w,    t^avt^w,    TropacrTraw, 
<ru/.'/3aXXw,    /.urlp^o^aJ,     e^ijytojuat 
tw,  StatcwXuw. 

368.  Under   what   restrictions   may   a   plural   noun  bo 
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  Avhat  words  do  ^urj  and  77  form   a  crasis  in 
scanning  ?     What  is  the  accentuation  of  jutra,  tVt,  irapa, 
&c.  when  used  for  jumtm,  tTrsan,  &c.  ? 

371.  What  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  ttpyttv  and  tipytiv ;  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  KOI 
forms   a  crasis  with  another  word  ?     When  is  /.u]  ov  used 
before  an  infinitive  mood  ? 

374.  What  are  the  different  forms  and  quantity  of  cut  ? 
Explain  and  illustrate  the  usage  of  aXXti  yap. 

375.  What  is  the  quantity  of  the  second  syllable   of 
a vi aw  and  aviapo^?     Also  of  the  third  of  ai-wpo?  in  the 
different  Greek  poets  ? 

376.  What  way  the  formula  used  by  messengers  in  con- 


THE    GRECIAN'    DRAMA.  547 

eluding  their  narrations  ?     How  is  KOI  /UTJV  with  or  without 
fi&  used  ? 

377.  Is  wq  in  Attic  Greek  ever  used  for  t\q,  except  in 
the  case  of  animate  objects  ? 

378.  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.  Cfin  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  it».'c  require 
when  it  signifies  "  until  ?"* 

S82.  What  is  the  meaning  of  k-Xvw  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  Suotv  and  Svt  tv  ? 

384.  What  is  the  meaning  of  derivative  adjectives  ending 
in  /,uoc  ?     Give  instances  of  nouns  media'  significationis. 

385.  What   is   expressed  by  nouns  ending  in   Ti'/ptov  ? 
What  is  the  meaning  of  words  in  Btv  ? 

386.  In  what  different  senses  does  ru^Xde  occur  ?     Give 
instances  of  a  similar  usage  of  ccecus. 

387.  Show  how  the  position  of  the  accent  alters  the 
meaning  of  the  following  words  :  0ca,  aywv,   KaXwv,  aAXa, 


388.  State  the  difference  between  j3w^ioc  and  O-JJKOC  ;  also 
between  TOO^OC  and  rpo^eue. 

389.  Of  the  expressions  /ti?)  cto/SaXXs,  /ui)  ota/3aXXy?,  and 
fiti  §ta/3aXyC)  which  is  the  incorrect  one  ? 


^48  THE   GRECIAN   DRAMA. 

390.  Of  the  forms  Sui/^,  ${,Vq,  $vvm,  which  did  Elmsley 
and  Person  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  injftve  differ- 
ent ways  ?     What  is  the  EpiploJce  ?     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,    atroOtaiQ,  aywyri  ? 
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  caesura  ?     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 
correption  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    EXD. 


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2 

For  Phrynicus  read  Phrynichus. 

for  Tgct%i',<t  read  rpa^t. 

For  or  read  nor. 

For  there  read  there. 

For  aJrsIv  read  <xrrE~v. 

Fur  Euripides  read  Euripidis. 

For  Sophocles  read  Sophoclis. 

For  month  read  mouth. 

Fur  name  read  name  of. 

For  tbe  rend  the. 

For  Archilocus  rend  Archilochus. 

Ffr  thre  read  three. 

J'or  mon  meter  read  monometcr. 

For  one  read  one. 

Fur  b  read  be. 

For  I'v9nT9t  read  rTt5Sr,7?j. 

Fur  110.  rend  ir«. 

For  •7rXn9t'»  read  TrXr,9y'u 

.For  r'i'  read  T.". 

/'or  optativ  re'td  optative. 


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