Specimens of Greek Tragedy | Page 2

their agreement. The innovation made by Aeschylus altered
the whole character of the poem; raised the purely dramatic portion
from a subordinate to the principal rank, and expanded it into a richly
varied and well organised composition. With him, it would seem, and
as a natural consequence of this great change, arose the usage, which to
us appears so singular, of exhibiting what was sometimes called a
trilogy, which comprised three distinct tragedies at the same time."
Grote says:--
"The tragic drama belonged essentially to the festivals in honour of the
god Dionysus; being originally a chorus sung in his honour, to which

were successively superadded: First, an iambic monologue; next, a
dialogue with two actors; lastly, a regular plot with three actors, and a
chorus itself interwoven into the scene. Its subjects were from the
beginning, and always continued to be, persons either divine or heroic
above the level of historical life, and borrowed from what was called
the mythical past. 'The Persae' of Aeschylus, indeed, forms a splendid
exception; but the two analogous dramas of his contemporary,
Phrynichus, 'The Phoenissae,' and 'The Capture of Miletus,' were not
successful enough to invite subsequent tragedians to meddle with
contemporary events. To three serious dramas, or a trilogy--at first
connected together by a sequence of subject more or less loose, but
afterwards unconnected and on distinct subjects, through an innovation
introduced by Sophocles, if not before--the tragic poet added a fourth
or satyrical drama; the characters of which were satyrs, the companions
of the god Dionysus, and other historic or mythical persons exhibited in
farce. He thus made up a total of four dramas, or a tetralogy, which he
got up and brought forward to contend for the prize at the festival. The
expense of training the chorus and actors was chiefly furnished by the
choregi,--wealthy citizens, of whom one was named for each of the ten
tribes, and whose honour and vanity were greatly interested in
obtaining a prize. At first these exhibitions took place on a temporary
stage, with nothing but wooden supports and scaffolding; but shortly
after the year 500 B.C., on an occasion when the poets Aeschylus and
Pratinas were contending for the prize, this stage gave way during the
ceremony, and lamentable mischief was the result. After that
misfortune, a permanent theatre of stone was provided. To what extent
the project was realised before the invasion of Xerxes we do not
accurately know; but after his destructive occupation of Athens, the
theatre, if any existed previously, would have to be rebuilt or renovated,
along with other injured portions of the city."
Curtius says:--
"Thespis was the founder of Attic tragedy. He had introduced a
preliminary system of order into the alternation of recitative and song,
into the business of the actor, and into the management of dress and
stage. Solon was said to have disliked the art of Thespis, regarding as
dangerous the violent excitement of feelings by means of phantastic
representation; the Tyrants, on the other hand, encouraged this new

popular diversion; it suited their policy that the poor should be
entertained at the expense of the rich; the competition of rival tragic
choirs was introduced; and the stage near the black poplar on the
market-place became a centre of the festive merry- makings in Attica."
Curtius thinks that Pisistratus, as a popular usurper and opponent of the
aristocracy, encouraged the worship of the popular god Dionysus with
the Tragic Chorus, and he gives Pisistratus the credit of this glorious
innovation. A similar policy was ascribed to Cleisthenes of Sicyon by
Herodotus (v. 67).
The Chorus thus remaining wedded to the Drama, parts the action with
lyric pieces more or less connected with it, and expressive of the
feelings which it excites. In Aeschylus and Sophocles the connection is
generally close; less close in Euripides. The Chorus also occasionally
joins in the dialogue, moralising or sympathising, and sometimes, it
must be owned, in a rather commonplace and insipid strain. In "The
Eumenides" of Aeschylus, the chorus of Furies takes part as a character
in the drama; in "The Suppliants" it plays the principal part.
The Drama came to perfection with Athenian art generally, and with
Athens herself in the period which followed the Persian war. The
performance of plays at the Dionysiac festival was an important event
in Athenian life. The whole city was gathered in the great open-air
theatre consecrated to Dionysus, whose priest occupied the seat of
honour. All the free men, at least, were gathered there; and when we
talk about the intellectual superiority of the Athenian people, we must
bear in mind that a condition of Athenian culture was the delegation of
industry to the slave. That audience was probably the liveliest, most
quick-witted, most appreciative, and most critical that the world ever