Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/232

 214 ON THE REPRESENTATION OF seen^, oiiglnally composed of the whole population. When, how- ever, in process of time, the fine arts became more cultivated, the duties of this branch of Tvorship devolved upon a few, and ultimately upon one, who bore the whole expense, when paid dancers were employed 2. This person, who was called the Ghoragus, was con- sidered as the religious representative of the whole people^, and was said to do the state's work for it (KeLrovpyelv'^). The Choragia, the Gymnasiarchy, the Feasting of the Tribes, and the Architheo- ria, belonged to the class of regularly recurring state burthens {ijKVKXLot XeLToupylav), to which all persons whose property ex- ceeded three talents were liable. It was the choragus' business^ to provide the chorus in all plays, whether Tragic or Comic, and also for the lyric choruses of men and boys, Pyrrhichists, Cyclian dancers, and others; he was selected by the managers of his tribe [iiTifjLekTjToX (fivXri^) for the choragy which had come round to it. His first duty, after collecting his chorus, was to provide and pay a teacher {'x^opoScBaa-KoXo^;), who instructed them in the songs and dances which they had to perform, and it appears that the choragi drew lots for the first choice of teachers. The choragus had also to pay the musicians and singers who composed the chorus, and was allowed to press children, if their parents did not give them up of their own accord. He was obliged to lodge and maintain the chorus till the time of performance, and to supply the singers with such aliments as conduce to strengthen the voice. In the laws of Solon the age prescribed for the choragus was forty years; but this rule does not appear to have been long in force. The relative expense of the different choruses, in the time of Lysias, is given in a speech of that orator ^ We learn from this that the 1 Above, p. 27, 2 See Buttmann on Dem. Mid. p. 37. 3 Hence his person and tlie ornaments which he procured for the occasion were sacred. See Demosth. Mid, p. 519, et passim. ^ On this word, see Valckenaer on Amnion. II. 16; Ruhnken, Episf. Crit. I. p. 54; Hesychius, s. v. p. 463, Vol. 11, It is formed from X^ws, Xetrov, XtjI'tov (see Herod. VII. 197: XtjI'tov KaX^ovat t6 irpvravriiov oi 'i^xatoi). The best notion of the meaning of a liturgy may be derived from ^schyl. Eumen. 340 : "Lirevhbixevos 5' a^eXetv riva rdaSe /xepifivas 6eu>v 5' driXetau i/xah Xetrats cTriKpalveLV, if the emendations which we have introduced, or adopted from Miiller, are to be received. 5 On the choragia, see Bbckh's Public Economy, Vol. ii. pp. 207 foil. Engl. Transl,, or Stuart's Athens.
 * ^ LysiaS; 'AttoX. dojpod. p. 698. Translated by Bentley (Phalaris, p. 360).