Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/112

 94 CHCERILUS, PHRYNICHUS, AND PRATINAS. to him have come down to us, but it is probable that some of these belonged to the other two writers who bore the same name. We learn from Suidas the following particulars respecting Pratinas. He was a Phliasian, the son of Pjrrhonides or En- comius, a tragedian, and the opponent of Choerilus and jEschylus, when the latter first represented. As we have already stated he was the first writer of satyrical dramas as a distinct species of entertainment; and we may connect this circumstance with the place of his birth; for Phlius was near Corinth and Sicyon, the cradles of the old tragedies of Arion and Epigenes. On one occasion, while he was acting, his wooden stage gave way, and in consequence of that accident, the Athenians built a stone theatre. He exhibited fifty dramas, of which thirty-two were satyrical. The Phliasians seem to have taken' great delight in these per- formances of their countryman^, and according to Pausanias^, erected a monument in the market-place in honour of " Aristias, the son of Pratinas, who with his father excelled all except -^schylus in writing satyrical dramas." Pratinas also wrote Hyporchemes^ His son Aristias inherited his father's talents, and competed with Sophocles^. ^ Above, p. 69. 2 See Schneider, De Orig. Trag. p. 90. ^ II. 13, ^ Athen. XIV. p. 617 c: Tiparlvas hk 6 $Xtt£(Tios, avkrjTQv Kal xopeircDi' /xiadocpopcou KarexovTwv ras 6pxv<^Tpas, ayavaKTelv rivas irrl rip rods avXrjras firj avvavketv toTs Xopois, Kaddirep riv irdrpLov, dWd toi)j x^P^^^ (TVpaSeiv rots avXrjTois' dv odu elxe Ov/xbu /card tQv raura ttqlqtuvtwv 6 UpaTivas ificpavi^ei 5td rovde rod VTropxVfxaros. Tts 6 66pvj3os ode, K.r.X. Miiller suggests {Hist. Lit. Gr. i. p. 295 [390]) that this Hyporcheme may have occurred in a satyrical drama. But we have seen above, pp. 35, 69, that the Satyric corresponded rather to the Pyrrhic than to the Hyporchematic dance. ^ Auct. Vit. Sophocl.