Smith, William: A smaller dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities (London, 1871)

TRAGOEDIA.

TRAGOEDIA.

Dithyramb was danced by a chorus of fifty
men round an altar. The choral Dithy-
rambic songs prevailed to some extent, as all
choral poetry did, amongst the Dorians of
the Peloponnesus; whence the choral ele-
ment of the Attic tragedy was always written
in the Dorian dialect, thus showing its
origin. The lyrical poetry was, however,
especially popular at Sicyon and Corinth. In
the latter city Arion made his improvements;
in the former " tragic choruses," i. e. dithy-
rambs of a sad and plaintive character, were
very ancient. From the more solemn Dithy-
rambs then, as improved by Arion, ultimately
sprang the dramatic tragedy of Athens, some-
what in the following manner. The cho-
ruses were under the direction of a leader
or exarchus, who, it may be supposed, came
forward separately, and whose part was
sometimes taken by the poet himself. We
may also conjecture that the exarchus in
each case led off by singing or reciting his
part in a solo, and that the chorus dancing
round the altar then expressed their feelings
of joy or sorrow at his story, representing
the perils and sufferings of Dionysus, or some
hero, as it might be. The subjects of this
Dithyrambic tragedy were not, however,
always confined to Dionysus. Even Arion
wrote Dithyrambs, relating to different
heroes, a practice in which he was followed
by succeeding poets. It is easy to conceive
how the introduction of an actor or speaker
independent of the chorus might have been
suggested by the exarchs coming forward
separately and making short off-hand speeches,
whether learnt by heart beforehand, or made
on the spur of the moment. [Chorus.] But
it is also possible, if not probable, that it
was suggested by the rhapsodical recitations
of the epic and gnomic poets formerly pre-
valent in Greece : the gnomic poetry being
generally written in Iambic verse, the metre
of the Attic dialogue. This however is cer-
tain, that the union of the Iambic dialogue
with the lyrical chorus took place at Athens
Ollder Pisistratus, and that it was attributed
to Thespis, a native of Icaria, one of the
country demes or parishes of Attica where
the worship of Dionysus had long prevailed.
The alteration made by him, and which gave
to the old tragedy a new and dramatic cha-
racter, was very simple but very important.
He introduced an actor, as it is recorded, for
the sake of giving rest to the chorus, and in-
dependent of it, in which capacity he pro-
bably appeared himself, taking various parts
in the same piece, under various disguises,
which he was enabled to assume by means
of linen masks, the invention of which is
attributed to him. Now as a chorus, by

means of its leader, could maintain a dia-
logue with the actor, it is easy to see how
with one actor only a dramatic action might
be introduced, continued, and concluded, by
the speeches between the choral songs ex-
pressive of the joy or sorrow of the chorus
at the various events of the drama. "With
respect to the character of the drama of
Thespis there has been mucb doubt: some
writers, and especially Bentley, have main-
tained that his plays were all satyrical and
ludicrous, i. e. the plot of them was some
story of Bacchus, the chorus consisted prin-
cipally of satyrs, and the argument was merry.
But perhaps the truth is that in the early
part of his career Thespis retained the sa-
tyrical character of the older tragedy, but
afterwards inclined to more serious composi-
tions, which would almost oblige him to dis-
card the Satyrs from his choruses. That he
did write serious dramas is intimated by the
titles of the plays ascribed to him, as well as
by the character of the fragments of Iambic
verse quoted by ancient writers as his. It
is evident that the introduction of the dia-
logue must also have caused an alteration in
tbe arrangement of the chorus, which could
not remain cyclic or circular, but must have
been drawn up in a rectangular form about
the thymele or altar of Bacchus in front of
the actor, who was elevated on a platform or
table (eAcds), the forerunner of the stage.
The lines of Horace (Ar. 1'oet. 276) :—

" Dieitur ct planstris vexisse poi'mata Thespis,
Quae canm-nt Hgerantqne peruncti faccibus ura "—

are founded on a misconception of the origin
of the Attic tragedy, and the tale about the
waggons of Thespis probably arose out of a
confusion of the waggon of the comedian Su-
sarion with the platform of the Thespian actor.
The first representation of Thespis was in b. c.
535. His immediate successors were the Athe-
nian Choerilus and Phrynichus, the former of
whom represented plays as early as e. c. 524.
Phrynichus was a pupil of Thespis, and gained
his first victory in the dramatic contests b. c.
511. In his works, the lyric or choral ele-
ment still predominated over the dramatic,
and he was distinguished for the sweetness
of his melodies, which in the time of the
Peloponnesian war were very popular with
the admirers of the old style of music. The
first use of female masks is also attributed to
him, and he so far deviated from the general
practice of the Attic tragedians as to write
a drama on a subject of contemporary history,
the capture of Miletus by the Persians, b. c.
494.—We now come to the first writer of
Satyrical dramas, Pratinas of Phlius, a town
not far from Sicyon, and which laid claim to
i the invention of tragedy as well a.s comedy.