Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/428

408 DRAMA [GREEK. and KLs contemporary Diphilus. Of these authors we know something from fragments, but more from their Latiu adapters Plautus and Terence. As comedians of character, they were limited by a range of types which left little room for originality of treatment ; in the construc tion of their plots they were skilful rather than varied. In style, as well as to some extent in construction, Menander took Euripides as his model, infusing into his comedy an element of moral and sentimental reflection, which refined if it did not enliven it. Yet it may be doubted whether either a high moral or a high artistic purpose animated this school of writers, and whether Epicurus in Lander s dialogue does injustice to Menander in suspecting him of " enjoying the follies of men in our rotten state as flies enjoy fruit in its decay." Fate or chance were the directing powers of his dramatic actions. New CoEiedy, and with it Greek comedy proper, is regarded as having come to an end with Posidippus (fl. c 280). Other comic writers of a later date are, however, nfentioned, among them Rhinthon of Tarentum (fl. c. 300), whose mixed compositions have been called by various names, among them by that of pklyacographies (from phlyax, useless chatter). Bat Greek comedy ceased to be productive after it had been transplanted from Athens to Alexandria; and though even in its original form it long continued to be acted in imperial Home, these are phases of its history which may here be passed by. The religious origin of the Attic drama impresses itself U p 0n a n i ts most peculiar features. Theatrical per- formances were held at Athens only at fixed seasons in the early part of the year at the Bacchic festivals of the country Dionysia (vintage), the Lenrea (wine-press), pro bably at the Anthesteria, and above all, at the Great Dionysia, or the Dionysia par excellence, at the end of March and beginning of April, when in her most glorious age Athens was crowded with visitors from the islands and cities of her federal empire. As a part of religious worship, the performances took place in a sacred locality the Lenceum on the south-eastern declivity of the Acropolis, where the first wine-press (lenos) was said to have been set up, and where now an altar of Bacchus (thymele) formed the centre of the theatre. For the same reason, the exhibitions claimed the attendance of the whole population, and room was therefore provided on a grand scale according to the Platonic Socrates, for "more than 30,000" spectators. The performances lasted all day, or were at least, in accordance with their festive character, extended to as great a length as possible. To their religious origin is likewise to be attributed the fact that they were treated as a matter of state concern. The expenses of the chorus, which in theory represented the people at large, were defrayed on behalf of the state by the liturgies (public services) of wealthy citzens, chosen in turn by the tribes to be choragi (leaders, i.e., providers of the chorus), the duty. of training being, of course, deputed by them to profes sional persons (choro(Hdascali). Publicly appointed and sworn judges decided between the merits of the dramas pro duced in competition with one another ; the successful poet, performers, and choragus were crowned with ivy, and the last-named was allowed at his own expense to consecrate a tripod in memory of his victory in the neighbourhood of the sacred Bacchic enclosure. Such a monument one of the most graceful relics of ancient Athens still stands iu the place where it was erected, and recalls to posterity the victory of Lysicrates, achieved in the same year as that of Alexander on the Granicus. The dramatic exhibitions being a matter of religion and state, the entrance money, (theoricum) which had been introduced to prevent over crowding, was from the time of Pericles provided out of the public treasury. The whole copulation had a right to its Bacchic holiday ; neither women, nor boys, nor slaves were excluded from theatrical spectacles at Athens. The religious character of dramatic performances at Costum Athens, and the circumstances under which they accord- an( ^ ingly took place, likewise determined their externals of sc costume and scenery. The actor s dress was originally the festive Dionysian attire, of which it always retained the gay and variegated hues. The use of the mask was due to the actor s appearing in the open air and at a dis tance from most of the spectators ; its several species were elaborated with great care, and adapted to the different types of theatrical character. The cothurnus, or thick-soled boot, which further raised the height of the tragic actor (while the comedian wore a thin-soled boot), was likewise a relic of Bacchic costume. The scenery was, in the simplicity of its original conception, suited to open-air performances ; but in course of time the art of scene-paint ing came to be highly cultivated, and movable scenes were contrived, together with machinery of the ambitious kind required by the Attic drama, whether for bringing gods down from heaven, or for raising mortals aloft. On a stage and among surroundings thus conventional, Actors. it might seem as if little scope could have been left for the actor s art. But though the demands made upon the Attic actor differed in kind even from those made upon his Roman successor, and still more from those which the histrionic art has to meet in modern times, they were not the less rigorous. Mask and buskin might increase his stature, and the former might at once lend the appropriate expression to his appearance and the necessary resonance to his voice. But in declamation, dialogue, and lyric passage, in gesticulation and movement, he had to avoid the least violation of the general harmony of the performance. At the same time, the refinements of bye-play must, from the nature of the case, have been impossible on the Attic stage ; the gesticulation must have been broad and massive ; the movement slow and the grouping hard in tragedy; and the recitation must have surpassed in its weighty sameness that half-chant of which the echoes have never wholly died out from the stage. Not more than three actors, as has been seen, appeared in any Attic tragedy. The actors were provided by the poet ; perhaps the performer of the first parts (protagonist) was paid by the state. It was again a result of the religious origin of Attic dramatic performances, and of the public importance attached to them, that the actor s profession was held in high esteem. These artists were as a matter of course free Athenian citizens, often the dramatists them selves, and at times were employed in other branches of the public service. In later days, when tragedy had migrated to Alexandria, and when theatrical entertain ments had spread over all the Hellenic world, the art of acting seems to have reached an unprecedented height, and to have taken an extraordinary hold of the public mind. Synods or companies of Dionysian artists abounded, who were in possession of various privileges, and in one instance at least (at Perganms) of rich endowments. The most important of these was the Ionic compan3% estab lished first in .Teos, and afterwards in Lebedos, near Colophon, which is said to have lasted longer than many a famous state. We likewise hear of strolling companies performing in partibus. Thus it came to pass that the vitality of some of the master-pieces of the Greek drama is without a parallel in theatrical history; whib Greek actors were undoubtedly among the principal and most effective agents of the spread of literary culture through a great part of the known world. The theory and technical system of the drama exercised Writc-s the critical powers both of dramatists, such as Sophocles, the then

and of the greatest among Greek philosophers: If Plato f ^