Page:The Tragic Drama of the Greeks (1896).djvu/20

8 girls with flowing garments and dishevelled hair, dancing to the flute and clashing their cymbals, or flourishing the magic wand of Dionysus. Their names, like those of the Satyrs, were playful personifications, such as Dance, Song, Drink, Merriment, and Comedy. The Sileni, with their gross and hairy bodies, and their drunken and lascivious features, resembled Satyrs advanced in years, and formed the elderly portion of the troop. Centaurs, as the representatives of animal force and vigour, and Pan, as the god of rural life, also followed in the train of Dionysus. Various allegorical figures are likewise often to be seen, in works of art, as frequenting his court. Autumn, a matronly woman, offers him the fruits of the earth upon a dish; Peace stands by his side, with the horn of plenty in her hand; and Love and Desire, little winged boys, hover round his head. The Muses, the Hours, and the Graces occasionally join themselves to the group.

Such then were the principal features in the popular conception of Dionysus and his followers. To turn next to the Dionysiac festivals. Our concern is mainly with those held in Attica, which were of two kinds. One of these was celebrated in the spring-time, when the wine of last year was ready for drinking, and when the earth was awakening to new life, and the trees and plants breaking forth into foliage, under the fostering influence of Dionysus. The other was placed in winter, after the termination of the labours of the year, to celebrate the completion of the vintage, and the ingathering of the fruits.