Page:History of the Literature of Ancient Greece (Müller) 2ed.djvu/322

300 300 HISTORY OF THF The chorus itself, in its transition from lyric to dramatic poetry, had undergone a total change of form. As a dithyrambic chorus, it moved in a ring around the altar which served as a centre, and had a com- pletely independent character and action. As a dramatic chorus, it was connected with the action of the stage, was interested in what was passing there, and must therefore, of necessity, front the stage. Hence, according to the old grammarians, the chorus of the drama was qua- drangular, i. e., arranged so that the dancers, when standing in their regular places in rows and groups (ariypi and £vya), formed right angles In this form it passed through the wide side-entrances of the orchestra (the TtapoZot) into the centre of it, where it arranged itself between the thymele and the stage in straight lines. The number of dancers in the tragic chorus was probably reduced from fifty, the number of the choreutae in the dithyrambic chorus, in the following manner. First, a quadrangular chorus, of forty-eight persons, was formed ; and this was divided into four parts or sets which met toge- ther. This hypothesis will explain many difficulties; for example, how it is that, at the end of the Eumenides of iEschylus, two separate choruses, the Furies and the festal train, come on the stage together.* The chorus of /Eschylus accordingly consisted of twelve persons; at a later period Sophocles increased them to fifteen, which was the regular number in the tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides, f The places occupied by the choral dancers were all determined by established usages, the main object of which was to afford the public the most favourable view of the chorus, and to bring into the foreground the handsomest and best dressed of the choreutae. The usual move- ments of the tragic chorus were solemn and stately, as be-eemed the dignified venerable persons, such as matrons and old men, who fre- quently appeared in them. The tragic style of dancing, called Emme- leia, is described as the most grave and solemn of the public dances. § 5. Although the chorus not only sang alone, when the actors had quitted the stage, but sometimes sang alternately with the persons of the drama, and sometimes entered into dialogue with them, yet it did not, in general, stand on the same level with them, but on a raised stage or platform, considerably higher than the orchestra. But as the orchestra and the stage were not only contiguous, but joined, our in- formation on this point is by no means so clear as might be wished. To the eye of the spectator the relation in which the persons of the drama stood to the chorus was determined by their appearance; the twenty-four. This was half the tragic chorus, since comedies were not acted by fours, but singly. The accounts of the ancient grammarians respectingthe arrangements of the chorus refer to the chorus of fifteen persons ; as their accounts resprcting the arrangements of the stage refer to the three actors. The reason was, that the form of the ./Esehyleaii tragedy had become obsolete.
 * The same fact also throws a light on the number oi' the chorus of comedy,