Tragedy

According to Aristotle, the Attic tragedy arose from the recitations of the leaders of the dithyrambic song and dance, as employed by the shepherds and peasants in their annual solemnization of the festival of Bacchus. In this the sacrifice of a goat was followed by dances and a sort of masquerade, in which fauns and satyrs were personated. It is probable that certain villages grew famous for their skill in these games, and bands of performers may have gone from place to place, or matches may have arisen between companies of sin gers. The dithyramb us first became an orderly and solemn ceremony in the hands of one Arion, of Lesbos, who increased the members of the chorus to fifty, and first introduced set words and music. Thespis, a native of Attica, next introduced dialogue into the pauses of the choric song, this being kept up between a single speaker and the leaders of the chorus. These perform ances were comic in character. Phrynichus, a disciple of Thespis, first made them serious, by choosing the solemn legends of Greece as the subjects of his dialogue and chorus. As yet, however, the performances were rather lyrical then dramatic, and it remained for Æschylus to convert the monologue and soliloquy of Phrynichus into dramatic action and dialogue. He introduced upon the boards more than one actor at the same time, and relieved the declamation of the Thespian orator by the musical performance of a chorus; he also introduced scenery. A theater, first of wood, afterward of stone, accommodated a number of regular and attentive spectators; and the principal actors dre ed in personal disguise suitable to the characters personated. They also wore masks painted to represent the personages whose parts they performed. The mouth of the mask was shaped like the end of a trumpet, which, though it aided the actor's voice in filling the enormous area of the theater, must have had a ludicrous appearance. The cothurnus, or buskin, added to the actor's height; the enormous distance between the eyes of the auditors and the actors considerably le ening the apparent absurdities of the mask and buskin. Great trouble and expense were bestowed upon costume. When a Grecian actor personated a hero or a god, he concealed his face, increased his height, and wore a dre and mask exactly resembling the popular idea of the personage to be portrayed. The theaters were of enormous size, and built in the shape of a horse-shoe. The audience were placed on seats elevated one above another in gradation. The stage, which was on a level with the lowest row of seats, was placed at the flat end of the building. The space in the center of the theater, afterward termed "the pit," was called the orchestra, and was occasionally occupied by the chorus. Æschylus having regulated, Sophocles, Euripi des, and other dramatists improved, an amusement to which the art-loving Greeks became pa ionately attached. During the performance of a play written by Hegemon, news was brought of the total defeat of the Grecian army before Syracuse. Among the auditors were relatives of those who had fallen, and almost every spectator, in addition to his patriotic grief, had to mourn the lo of a friend or relative. They did not quit the theater, but spreading their mantles before their faces, ordered the representation to proceed, and, thus veiled, remained till its conclusion. The admi ion to these ancient theaters was at first one drachma; but Pericles caused the price to be lowered to two obols. In their personations, the Grecian actors aimed at gravity of movement and declamatory grace, rather than the rapidity and vivacity of pa ion. They held a high rank in the republic, and popularity carried with it a rich recompense.