Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/21

 BOOK I. THE ORIGIN OF THE GREEK DRAMA, CHAPTER I. THE RELIGIOUS ORIGIN OF THE GREEK DRAMA. ov ydp Ti vvv 76 KCLX^^s, dXK' del Trore ^77 raura, /coi;5ets olbev i^ 6tov '(pavrj. Sophocles. TT7E cannot assign any historical origin to the Drama. Result- ' * ing as it did from the constitutional tendencies of the in- habitants of those countries in which it sprang up, it necessarily existed, in some form or other, long before the age of history; consequently we cannot determine the time when it first made its appearance, and must therefore be content to ascertain in what principle of the human mind it originated. This we shall be able to do without much difficulty. In fact the solution of the problem is included in the answer to a question often proposed, — " How are we to account for the great prevalence of idol worship in ancient times?" For, strange as it may appear, it is nevertheless most true, that not only the drama, (the most perfect form of poetry,) but all poetry, sculpture, painting, architecture, and whatever else is beautiful in art, are the results of that very principle which degraded men, the gods of the earth, into grovelling worshippers of wood and stone, which made them kneel and bow down before the works of their own hands. This principle is that which is gene- rally called the love of imitation, — a definition, however, which is rather ambiguous, and has been productive of much misunder- 1—2