Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/376

 350 Aristotle's treatise on poetry. Cap. XXVI. It may be inquired, farther, which of the two imitations, the epic oUragic to^ OY the tragic, deserves the preference. epic poe ry. -j-£ that, which is the least vulgar or popular of the two, be the best, and that be such which is calculated for the better sort of spectators — the imitation which extends to every circumstance must evidently be the most vulgar or popular; for there the imitators have recourse to every kind of motion and gesticulation, as if the audience, without the aid of action, were incapable of understanding them: like bad flute- players, who whirl themselves round when they would imitate the motion of the discus, and pull the Coryphaeus, when jSci/lla is the sub- ject. Such is Tragedy. It may also be compared to what the modern actors are in the estimation of their predecessors ; for Myniscus used to call Callippides, on account of his intemperate action, the ape : and Tyndarus was censured on the same account. What these performers are with respect to their predecessors, the tragic imitation, when entire, is to the epic. The latter, then, it is urged, addresses itself to hearers of the better sort, to whom the addition of gesture is superfluous : but Tragedy is for the people; and being, therefore, the most vulgar kind of imitation, is evidently the inferior. But now, in the first place, this censure falls, not upon the poet^s art, but upon that of the actor; for the gesticulation may be equally laboured in the recitation of an epic poem, as it was by Sosistratus; and in singing, as by Mnasitheus the Opuntian. Again — All gesticulation is not to be condemned, since even all dancing is not j but such only as is unbecoming — such as was objected to Callippides, and is now objected to others, whose gestures resemble those of immodest women. Further — Tragedy, as well as the epic, is capable of producing its efiect, even without action; we can judge of it perfectly by reading. If, then, in other respects. Tragedy be superior, it is sufficient that the fault here objected is not essential to it. Tragedy has the advantage in the following respects. It possesses all that is possessed by the epic; it 7night even adopt its metre; and to this it makes no inconsiderable addition in the music and the decoration; by the latter of which the illusion is heightened, and the pleasure, arising from the action, is rendered more sensible and striking. It has the advantage of greater clearness and distinctness of im- pression, as well in reading as in representation. It has also that of attaining the end of its imitation in a shorter compass : for the effect is more pleasurable, when produced by a short and close series of impressions, than when weakened by diffiision