themselves for their dialogues'. They were written in the same metre, the same moral tone pervaded 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 (ToKρITS"). 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 (vπoкρiтai) 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 our discussion on the word ecapxew in the former Section, we shall remember that when Archilochus speaks of himself as the leader of a Dithyramb, he uses the trochaic tetrameter, which is a lengthened form of the iambic trimeter. If this was the metre always used by the exarchus of the Dithyramb, and we collect from Aristotle that it was, for certainly the Dithyramb itself was not written in any regular metre-the exarchus was to all intents and purposes, either an aœdus, or a rhapsode, and therefore an actor, in the Greek sense of the word, even 1. This is expressly stated by Plutarch. de Musicâ, tom. X. p. 680. ěti de Twv Ιαμβείων τὸ τὰ μὲν λέγεσθαι παρὰ τὴν κροῦσιν, τὰ δὲ ἄδεσθαι Αρχίλοχόν φασι καταδεῖξαι, εἶθ ̓ οὕτω χρησάσθαι τοὺς τραγικούς. Do not the first words apply to a rhythmical recitation by the exarchus followed by a musical performance by the chorus ? 2. Whole pages might be filled with the plagiarisms of the Attic tragedians from even the small remains of the gnomić poets. The following are a few of the most striking. Archiloch. p. 30, 1. 1. Liebel. χρημάτων ἄελπτον οὐδέν ἐστιν, οὐδ ̓ ἀπώμοτον. Is repeated by Soph. Antig. 386. ἄναξ, βροτοῖσιν οὐδέν ἐστ ̓ ἀπώμοτον. Esch. Eumen. 603. τὰ πλεῖστ ̓ ἀμείνον' εὔφροσιν δεδεγμένη. From Theognis, v. 765. (p. 52, Welcker.) ὧδ εἶναι καὶ ἀμείνον' εύφρονα θυμὸν ἔχοντας. Esch. Agam. 36. τὰ δ' ἄλλα σιγῶ· βοῦς ἐπὶ γλώττης μέγας. From Theognis, 651. Welcker. βοῦς μοι ἐπὶ γλώσσης κρατερῷ ποδὶ λαξ ἐπιβαίνων 3. When Aristotle says, (Rhet. iii. 1.) Els Tηu Tpayıkŋv kai paḥwdíav óyè ñaρῆλθεν ἡ ὑπόκρισις) ὑπεκρίνοντο γὰρ αὐτοὶ τὰς τραγῳδίας οἱ ποιηταὶ τὸ πρῶτον, he evidently means by the word úrókρiσis the assumption of the poet's person by another: which we conceive to have been the original, as it is the derived, meaning of the word. Compare Topxnua, &c. We think it more than probable that the names of the actors, πрWтаушVíσTηs, &c. were derived from the names of the rhapsodes who recited in succession (vonews) in the paywowv ȧy@ves. See Pseudoplat. Hipparch. p. 228, and the other passages quoted by Welcker, Ep. Cycl. p. 371, fol. though he carried on no dialogue. If these remarks appear well founded we shall 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 suggested 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 blending in order to be complete. It is our next business to inquire how, and by whom this union was effected. CHAPTER III. UNION OF THE TWO ELEMENTS. THESPIS. Debbe un principe ne' tempi convenienti dell'anno tenere occupati i popoli con feste e spettacoli; e perchè ogni città è divisa o in arti o in tribù, debbe tener conto di quelle università. MACHIAVELLI. THERE can be little doubt that the worship of Bacchus was introduced into Attica at a very early period' indeed it was probably the religion of the oldest inhabitants, who, on the invasion of the country by the Ionians, were reduced, like the native Laconians, to the inferior situation of Tepioikoi, and cultivated the soil for their conquerors. Like all other Pelasgians they were naturally inclined to a country life, and this perhaps may account for the elementary nature of their religion, which like themselves was thrown aside and despised by the ruling caste. In the quadripartite division of the people of Attica the old inhabitants formed the tribe of the Ægicores or goatherds, who worshipped Dionysus with the sacrifice of goats. But though they were at first kept in a state of inferiority and subjection, they eventually rose to an equality with the other inhabitants of the country. There are very many Attic legends which point to the original contempt for the goatherd's religion on the part of the other tribes, and their subsequent adoption of it. This is indicated by the freedom of slaves at the Dionysian festivals, by the reference of the origin of the religion to the town Eleutheræ, by the marriage of the King Archon's wife to Bac 1. On the early worship of Bacchus in Attica see Welcker, p. 194, fol. and Phil. Mus. II. p. 299-307. chus'; and we may perhaps discover traces of a difference of castes in the story of Orestes at the Anthesteria. It was natural, therefore, that the Ægicores, when they had obtained their freedom from political disabilities, should ascribe their deliverance to their tutelary God, whom they therefore called 'Excú epos; and in later times, when all the inhabitants of Attica were on a footing of equality, the God Bacchus was still looked upon as the favorer of the commonalty, and as the patron of democracy. As we have before remarked, it was not till the Athenians had recognized the supremacy of the Delphian oracle, that the Dorian choral worship was introduced into Attica, and it was then applied to the old Dionysian religion of the country with the sanction of the oracle, as appears from the oracle which we have quoted above, and from the legend in Pausanias, that the Delphian oracle assisted Pegasus in transferring the worship of Bacchus from Eleuthera to Athens. Consequently the Dithyramb would not be long in finding its way into a country so predisposed for its reception as Attica certainly was, and there is every reason to believe that the Dorian lyric Drama, perhaps with certain modifications, accompanied its parent3. The recitations by rhapsodes were a peculiarly Ionian entertainment, and therefore, no doubt, were common in Attica from the very earliest times. At Brauron, in particular, we are told that the Iliad was chaunted by rhapsodes'. Now the Brauronia were a festival of Bacchus, and a particularly boisterous one, if we may believe Aristophanes. To this festival we refer the passage of Clearchus, quoted by Athenæus, in which it is stated 1. · καὶ αὕτη ἡ γυνὴ ὑμῖν ἔθνε τὰ ἄῤῥητα ἱερὰ ὑπὲρ τῆς πόλεως, καὶ εἶδεν ἅ οὐ προσῆκεν αὐτὴν ὁρᾶν ξένην οὖσαν, καὶ τοιαύτη οὖσα εἰσῆλθεν οἳ οὐδεὶς ἄλλος Αθηναίων τοσούτων ὄντων εἰσέρχεται ἀλλ ̓ ἡ τοῦ βασιλέως γυνή, ἐξώρκωσέ τε τὰς γεραιρᾶς τὰς ὑπηρετούσας τοῖς ἱεροῖς, ἐξεδόθη δὲ τῷ Διονύσῳ γυνή, ἔπραξε δὲ ὑπὲρ τῆς πόλεως τὰ πάτρια τὰ πρὸς τοὺς θεούς, πολλὰ καὶ ἅγια καὶ ἀπόρρητα. Pseud. Demosth. in Neær. p. 1369-70. 2. Ι. 2, 5. συνελάβετο δέ οἱ καὶ τὸ ἐν Δελφοῖς μαντεῖον. 3. It seems that the oscilla on the trees referred to the hanging of Erigone, which probably formed the subject of a standing drama with mimic dances like the Sicyonian Tragedies, with which the dramas of Epigenes were connected. Welck. Nachtr. p. 224. 4. Hesych. Βραυρανίοις. τὴν Ἰλιάδα ᾗδον ῥαψῳδοὶ ἐν Βραυρώνι τῆς Ἀττικῆς. καὶ Βραυρωνία ἑορτὴ Ἀρτέμιδὶ Βραυρωνία ἄγεται καὶ θύεται αΐξ. Does this mention of the sacrifice of a goat point to rites of the Ægicores? 5. Pax. 874, and Schol. 6. At the beginning of the Seventh Book, p. 275. Β. Φαγήσια, οἱ δὲ Φαγησιοπόσια προσαγορεύουσι τὴν ἑορτήν· ἐξέλιπε δὲ αύτη, καθάπερ ἡ τῶν ῥαψῳδῶν, ἥν ήγον κατὰ τὴν τῶν Διονυσίων· ἐν ᾗ παριόντες ἕκαστοι τῷ θεῷ οἷον τιμὴν ἀπετέλουν τὴν ῥαψῳδίαν. that the rhapsodes came forward in succession and recited in honor of Bacchus. By a combination of these particulars we can at once establish a connexion between the worship of Bacchus and the rhapsodic recitations. Before, however, we consider the important inferences which may be derived from these facts, we must enter a little into the state of affairs in Attica at the time when the Thespian Tragedy arose. The early political dissensions at Athens were, like those between the populus and the plebs in the olden times of Roman history, the consequences of an attempt on the part of the inferior orders in an aristocracy of conquest' to shake off their civil disabilities, and to put themselves upon an equality with their more favored fellow citizens. Solon had in part effected this by taking from the Eupatrids some of their exclusive privileges, and establishing a timocracy in the place of the aristocracy. At this time, Athens was divided into three parties, the Пediato, or the landed aristocracy of the interior; the Пlápaλo, the people dwelling on the coast on both sides of Cape Sunium; and the Διάκριοι οι Υπερκριοι, the highlanders who inhabited the northeastern district of Attica". The first party were for an oligarchy, the last for a democracy, and the second for a mixture of the two forms of government". The head of the democratical faction was Pisistratus, the son of Hippocrates, of the family of the Codrids, and related to Solon; he was born at Philaidæ, near Brauron, and therefore was by birth a Diacrian. Having obtained by an artifice the sovran power at Athens, he was expelled by a coalition of the other two factions. After a short time, however, Megacles, the leader of the Paralians, being harassed (Tepieλavvóuevos) by the aristocratic faction, recalled Pisistratus and gave him his daughter in marriage. The manner of his ῥαψῳδίαν. Welcker rends ἑκάστῳ τῶν θεῶν, and takes quite a different view of this passage, except so far as he agrees with us in referring it to the Brauronia. (Ep. Cycl. p. 301.) 1. Mee Arnold's Thucydides, vol. I. p. 620. We think the fact that one of the classes in Attica was called the Hopletes," points to a conquest in Attica in remote times by the lonians, 2. Herod. 1. 60, στασιαζόντων τῶν παράλων καὶ τῶν ἐκ τοῦ πεδίου Ἀθηναίων...... των σπορακρίων προστών, 3. Plutarch, Hol, xii. p. 85. ἦν γὰρ τὸ μὲν τῶν Διακρίων γένος δημοκρατικώτες μου, ολιγαρχικώτατον δὲ τὸ τῶν Πεδιέων, τρίτοι δὲ οἱ Πάραλοι μέσον τινὰ καὶ μιγμένου αλρούμενοι πολιτείας τρόπον. Comp. Arnold's note on Thucyd. ii. 59. |
