Page:History of the Literature of Ancient Greece (Müller) 2ed.djvu/312

290 29!) HISTORY OF THE of Bacchus. There were dithyrambs of a gay and joyous tone, cele- brating 1 the commencement of spring ; but tragedy, with its solemn and gloomy character, could not have proceeded from these. The dithy- ramb, from which tragedy probably took its origin, turned upon the sorrows of Dionysus. This appears from the remarkable account of Herodotus, that in Sicyon, in the time of the tyrant Cleisthenes (about 600 B.C.), tragic choruses had been represented, which celebrated the sorrows, not of Dionysus, but of the hero Adrastus ; and that Clei- sthenes restored these choruses to the worship of Dionysus* This shows, not only that there were at that time tragic choruses, but also that the subject of them had been changed from Dionysus to other heroes, especially those who were distinguished by their misfortunes and sufferings. The reason why sometimes the dithyramb,! and afterwards tragedy, was transferred from Dionysus to heroes, and not to other gods of the Greek Olympus, was that the latter were elevated above the chances of fortune, and the alternations of joy and grief, to which both Dionysus and the heroes were subject. The date given by Hero- dotus agrees well with the statement of the ancient grammarians, that the celebrated dithyrambic poet, Arion (about 580 b. a), invented the tragic style (rpaytcoc rpoiroq); evidently the same variety of dithyramb as that usual in Sicyon in the time of Cleisthenes. This narrative also gives some probability to the tradition of a tragic author of Sicyon, named Epigenes, who lived before the time of the Athenian dramatists ; from the perplexed and, in part, corrupt notices of him it is conjectured that he was the first who transferred tragedy from Dionysus to other persons. § 5. In attempting to form a more precise conception of the ancient tragedy, when it still belonged exclusively to the worship of Bacchus, we are led by the statement of Aristotle, " that tragedy originated with the chief singers of the dithyramb," to suppose that the leaders of the chorus came forward separately. It may be conjectured that these, either as representatives of Dionysus himself, or as messengers from his train, narrated the perils which threatened the god, and his final escape from or triumph over them ; and that the chorus then expressed its feelings, as at passing events. The chorus thus naturally assumed the character of satellites of Dionysus; whence they easily fell into the parts of satyrs, who were not only his companions in sportive adventures, but also in combats and misfortunes ; and were as well adapted to express terror or fear, as gaiety or pleasure. It is stated by Aristotle and many grammarians, that the most ancient tragedy bore the character of a ts;, ob( fiv ru Aiovvtrw «ts?»xj. Whether «crs2&/»s i3 translated, " He gave them back," or " He gave them as something due," the result is the same. f There was a dithyramb, entitled Memnon, composed by Simonides, Slrabo, xv. p. 728 Above, chap, xiv., § 11.
 * H rod. V. 67. to vahtt. uvtov T^ayizdi/rt y^o^olixi iy.^cti^ov, rov piy Aiovt/irov oh rifiiuv-