Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/231

 GREEK PLAYS IN GENERAL. 213 At tlie Lena^a and the great Dionjsia, both Tragedies and Comedies were performed^; at the latter the Tragedies at least were always new pieces ; the instances in the didascalue^ which have come down to us, of representations at the Lena3a are indeed always of new pieces ^, but from the manner in which the exhibition of new Tragedies is mentioned in connexion with the city festival^, we must conclude that repetitions were allowed at the Lencea, as well as at the country Dionysia. The month Elaphebolion may have been selected for the representation of new Tragedies, because Athens was then full of the dependent allies, who came at that time to pay the tributes^, whereas the Athenians alone were present at the Lena^a. It does not clearly aj^pear that there were any theatrical exhibitions at the Anthesteria ; it is, however, at least probable that the Tragedians read to a select audience at the Anthesteria the Tragedies which they had composed for the festival in the following month, or, perhaps, the contests took place then, and the intervening month was employed in perfecting the actors and chorus in their parts ^. In considering the means of performance, we must recal to mind the different origins of the two constituent parts of a Greek drama — the chorus and the dialogue. Choruses were, as we have ^ Law in Demosth. Mid. p. 517. ^I fTri Arjvaiix} ■kqixttt] koL ol Tpaycpdol /cat oi K<j}fi(i}doi, Kai TO?s iv aarei ALOPvalois ij iro/xTrrj Kal ol iraldes /cat 6 koj/xos /cat ol K(x)fi(i}5ol Kal ol T payu}5oi. 2 See above, pp. 160, 182, 187, 189. ^ See the decree, Demosthenes irepl arecpduov, p. 264, Bekker: dvayopevaai tou (TTiipavov iu Tip 6 ear pep Aiovvaiois rpaycpdoh Kaivo7s. Lexicon Sangerm. p. 309, Bekker: TpayCi}8o?(XL ; rQv rpaywdujv ol fxev rjcrav iraXaLol ol iraXaid dpd,aaTa eladyovres' ol 8^ Kaivol, ol Kucud /cat /xT^SeVore daaxQ^vTa. See Hemsterhuis on Lucian's Timon, Vol. I. p. 463, Lehmann. This custom continued down to the times of Julius Ctesar, when a similar decree was passed in favour of Hyrcauus the high-priest and Ethnarch of the Jews. See Josephus, Antiq. Jud. xiv. 8. '^evuv irapbvTwv rr}v irokiv /ca/ccDs iycj. AvTol yap ea/xdi', outtI Arjvaiip r' dyuv, KouTTo; t,^i^oi irdpeLffLV ovre yap (popoi. "HKovaiv, oiV e/c tQu irdXectjv ol ^v/xfJiaxoL' 'AX' ia/j-ev avrol vvv ye TrepteTrrtcr/ze/^of Toi)s yap fi^TOLKOvs dxvpa tQv daTQv eyu. Aristoph. Acharn. 477: see the Scholiast. Hence ^-Eschines takes occasion to reproach Demosthenes with being too vain to be content with the applause of his own fellow-citizens, since he must needs have the crown decreed him proclaimed at the great Dionysia, when all Greece was present : ov8h iKKXrjcna^ovTOjv 'Adrjvaiwv dWd Tpay(p5u>v dycoyL^op.evojv Katvtov, oi)5' ivavTiov rov hrjixov, dW evavTLov tCov lEiWrjViov tV ijp.'iv avveiduaLv olov dvdpa T(.fxu)fji.€v. — Contra Ctesijph. Vol. III. p. 469, Oral. Alt. Oxford. ' Philol. Mvs. II. pp. 292 fol.
 * Ov ydp fjic Kal vvv dia^aXel KXeW, ort