Page:History of the Literature of Ancient Greece (Müller) 2ed.djvu/309

287 LITERATURE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 287 and that these admit only of a dramatic treatment, while outward nature is best described in epic and lyric poetry. § 2. If we carry ourselves in imagination back to a time when dra- matic composition was unknown, we must acknowledge that its crea- tion required great boldness of mind. Hitherto the bard had only sung of gods and heroes, as elevated beings, from ancient traditions ; it was, therefore, a great change for the poet himself to come forward all at once in the character of the god or hero ; in a nation which, even in its amusements, had always adhered closely to established usage. It is true that there is much in human nature which impels it to dramatic representations ; namely, the universal love of imitating' other persons, and the childlike liveliness with which a narrator, strongly impressed with his subject, delivers a speech which he has heard, or, perhaps, oidy imagined. Yet there is a wide step from these disjointed elements to the genuine drama; and it seems that no nation except the Greeks ever made this step. The Old Testament contains narratives interwoven with speeches and dialogues, as the Book of Job ; and lyric poems placed in a dramatic connexion, as Solomon's Song ; but we nowhere rind in this literature any mention of dramas properly so called. The dramatic poetry of the Indians belongs to a time when there had been much intercourse between Greece and India; and the mysteries of the Middle Ages were grounded upon a tradition, though a very obscure one, from antiquity. Even in ancient Greece and Italy, dra- matic poetry, and especially tragedy, attained to perfection only in Athens; and, even here, it was only exhibited at a few festivals of a single god, Dionysus; while epic rhapsodies and lyric odes were recited on various occasions. All this is incomprehensible, if we suppose dra- matic poetry to have originated in causes independent of the peculiar circumstances of the time and place. If a love of imitation, and a delight in disguising the real person under a mask, were the basis upon which this style of poetry was raised, the drama would have been as natural and as universal among men as these qualities are common to their nature. § 3. A more satisfactory explanation of the origin of the Greek drama may be found in its connexion with the worship of the gods, and particularly that of Bacchus. The Greek worship contains a great number of dramatic elements. The gods were supposed to dwell in their temples, and participate in their festivals; and it was not con- sidered presumptuous or unbecoming to represent them as acting like human beings. Thus, Apollo's combat with the dragon, and his con- sequent flight and expiation, were represented by a noble youth of Delphi; in Samos the marriage of Zeus and Here was exhibited at the great festival of the goddess. The Eleusiuian mysteries were (as an ancient writer expresses it*) " a mystical drama," in which the his-
 * Clem. Alex. Protrept, p 12. Potter