Page:History of the Literature of Ancient Greece (Müller) 2ed.djvu/314

292 292 HISTORY OF THE § 6. The ancients, however, are agreed that Thespis first caused tragedy to hecome a drama, though a very simple one. In the time of Pisistratus (b. c. 536), Thespis made the great step of connecting with the choral representation (which had hitherto at most admitted an in- terchange of voices) a regular dialogue, which was only distinguished from the language of common life hy its metrical form and by a more elevated tone. For this purpose, he joined one person to the chorus, who was the first actor* Now according to the ideas which we have formed from the finished drama, one actor appears to be no better than none at all. When however it is borne in mind, that, according to the constant practice of the ancient drama, one actor played several parts in the same piece (for which the linen masks, introduced by Thespis, must have been of great use) ; and moreover, that the chorus was combined with the actor, and could maintain a dialogue with him, it is easy to see how a dramatic action might be introduced, continued and concluded by the speeches inserted between the choral songs. Let us, for example, from among the pieces whose titles have been preserved,t take the Pen- theus. In this, the single actor might appear successively as Dionysus, Pentheus, a Messenger, and Agave, the mother of Pentheus ; and, in those several characters, might announce designs and intentions, or re- late events which could not conveniently be represented, as the murder of Pentheus by his unfortunate mother, or express triumphant joy at the deed ; by which means he would represent, not without interesting scenes, the substance of the fable, as it is given in the Bacchae of Euri- pides. Messengers and heralds probably played an important part in this early drama (which, indeed, they retained to a considerable extent in the perfect form of Greek tragedy ;) and the speeches were probably short, as compared with tie choral songs, which they served to explain. In the drama of Thespis, the persons of the chorus frequently repre- sented satyrs, as well as other parts ; for, before the satyric drama had acquired a distinctive character, it must have been confounded with tragedy. The dances of the chorus were still a principal part of the perform- ance; the ancient tragedians in general were teachers of dancing, (or, as we should say, ballet-masters,) as well as poets and musicians. In the time of Aristophanes, (when plays of Thespis could scarcely be represented upon the stage,) the dances of Thespis were still per- formed by admirers of the ancient style. Moreover, Aristotle remarks that the earliest tragedians used the long trochaic verse (the trochaic tetrameter) in the dialogue more than the iambic trimeter ; now the former was peculiarly adapted to lively, dance-like gesticulations. § f The funeral games of Pelias or Phorbas, the Priests, the Youths, Pentheus. { Ar stoph. Vesp. 1479. tj This is als i confirmed by the passage of Aris oph. Pac. 322.
 * Called iivox^irhs, from vToxgiartai. because he answered the songs of the chorus,