Chapter VI.
§ 1. Origin of the Doric musical mode. § 2. Character of the Doric mode. § 3. Progress of music in Sparta. § 4. Public musical performances. § 5. Progress of music in other Doric states. § 6. Connexion of dancing and music. Military music of Sparta. § 7. Military dances. § 8. Connexion of gymnastic exercises and dancing. § 9. Imitative dances. § 10. Dances of the Helots. Origin of bucolic poetry among the subject classes. § 11. Comedy connected with the county festivals of Bacchus.
1. We are now about to speak of the history of music in the different Doric states; and before we notice particular facts and circumstances, we must direct our attention to the more general one, namely, that one of the musical modes or ἁρμονίαι (by which term the ancient Greeks denoted the arrangement of intervals, the length of which was fixed by the different kinds of harmony, γένη, according to the strings of the tetrachord, together with the higher or lower scale of the whole system), was anciently called the Doric,[1493] and that this measure, together with the Phrygian and Lydian, was long the only one in use among the musicians of Greece, and consequently the only one which in these early times derived its name from a Greek nation; a sufficient warrant for us to consider it as the genuine Greek mode, in contradistinction to [pg 324] any other introduced at a later period.[1494] A question next arises, wherefore this ancient and genuine Greek strain was called the Doric.[1495] The only explanation that can be given is, that it was brought to perfection in Doric countries, viz. in the ancient nurseries of music, Crete, Sparta, Sicyon, and Delphi. There cannot therefore have been any school or succession of musicians among the other Greek nations, of greater celebrity than the Doric, before the time we allude to. Had this been the fact, they must either have adopted the same mode, or had an original one of their own; in the first case, it would have been named rather after them, in preference to the Dorians; in the second, there would have been two Greek musical modes, not merely the Doric. It follows then, that the establishment of the Doric music must have been of greater antiquity than the renowned musicians of Lesbos, who themselves were prior to Archilochus,[1496] and should not be considered as commencing with Terpander[1497] (who flourished from Olymp. 26. till 33. 676-646 B.C.), since at his time they had already arrived at a high degree of eminence. In fact, the Lesbian musicians were at that time the most distinguished in Greece: [pg 325] they far surpassed the native musicians of Peloponnesus, nay, even of Lacedæmon itself; so that if the above style had not at that time been common in the Peninsula, it would not have been called the Doric. Notwithstanding which, the opposition of the Doric to the Phrygian and Lydian modes on the one side, and the definite and systematic relation between the three on the other, can neither have been the result of mere popular and unscientific attempts, nor have originated in the mother-country of Greece, where there was no opportunity of becoming acquainted with the styles of music peculiar to those Asiatic nations,[1498] or of comparing them with their own, so as to mould them into one. The Doric mode, however, could only have been so named originally, from the contrast which it exhibited with these other kinds of music, and this must have been first observed in foreign countries, and not among the Dorians or Peloponnesians themselves, who were only acquainted with one style. The natural supposition then is, that the Lesbian musicians, being in constant communication both with Peloponnesus and Asia Minor, first established the distinction and names of the three modes, by adapting to the particular species of tetrachord in use throughout Peloponnesus, the accompaniments of singing and dancing practised in Asia Minor, and moulding the whole into a regular system.
2. Allowing then the truth of these premises, it follows that the Dorians of Peloponnesus, the genuine Greeks, cultivated music to a greater degree than any other of the Grecian tribes, before the time when [pg 326] this far-famed school of Asia flourished. We are warranted in assuming that it was not merely the external influence of the Doric race which gave their name to this mode, from the close affinity it bears to the character of the nation. The ancients, who were infinitely quicker in discovering the moral character of music than can be the case in modern times, attributed to it something solemn, firm, and manly, calculated to inspire fortitude in supporting misfortunes and hardships, and to strengthen the mind against the attacks of passion. They discovered in it a calm sublimity, and a simple grandeur which bordered upon severity, equally opposed to inconstancy and enthusiasm;[1499] and this is precisely the character we find so strongly impressed on the religion, arts, and manners of the Dorians. The severity and rudeness of this music (which appeared gloomy and harsh to the later ages, and would be still more so to our ears, accustomed to a softer style) was strikingly contrasted with the mild and pleasing character which had then long pervaded the Epic poetry. It teaches us undoubtedly to distinguish between the Asiatic Greeks, and those sprung from the mountains in the north of Greece, who, proud of their natural loftiness of character and vigour of mind, had acquired but little refinement from any contact with strangers.
3. In the study of music, as well as every thing else, the Dorians were uniformly the friends of antiquity; and in this also Sparta was considered the model of Doric customs.[1500] Not that Sparta opposed [pg 327] herself altogether to every attempt at improvement; her object was, that every novelty should be first acknowledged to be an improvement, before it passed into common use, and formed a part of the national education. Hence it unavoidably followed, that the music publicly practised in Sparta proceeded by rapid and single advances to a state of perfection; which opinion is perfectly consistent with the account given by an ancient author of the different regulations respecting the exercise of this art.[1501] When Terpander, the son of Derdenes, an inhabitant of Antissa in Lesbos, four times carried off the prize in the Pythian games, and also in the Carnean festival at Sparta (where the musicians of his school were long distinguished),[1502] and had tranquillized the tumults and disorders of the city by the solemn and healing tones of his songs,[1503] the acknowledged admiration of this master became so general in Sparta, that he procured the sanction of the law to his new inventions, particularly the seven-stringed cithara. It appears that by these means[1504] the music of earlier times became entirely antiquated, so that with the exception of the [pg 328] ancient Pythian minstrels, Chrysothemis and Philammon, not one name of the Doric musicians, before the time of Terpander, has come down to us. For those who, like Thaletas, have been sometimes considered more ancient, belong, according to undoubted testimony, to a later period.[1505] Plutarch dates the second epoch of Spartan music from Thaletas the Elyrian (whose skill was undoubtedly derived from the ancient sacred minstrels of the neighbouring town of Tarrha),[1506] and from Xenodamus of Cythera, and Xenocritus the Locrian,[1507] (whose chief compositions were pæans and hyporchemes), from Polymnestus of Colophon, and Sacadas the Argive, the latter of whom distinguished himself in elegies and other compositions adapted to the flute, the former in the orthian and dithyrambic styles, and also as an epic and elegiac poet. Sacadas flourished and conquered at the Pythian games in Olymp. 48. 3. 586 B.C.; the other musicians, according to Plutarch, must also have lived about the same period. Thaletas was however earlier than Polymnestus[1508] and Xenocritus,[1509] although later than Terpander [pg 329] and Archilochus, and therefore lived before the 40th Olympiad, or 620 B.C. To these musicians Plutarch entirely ascribes the introduction of songs at the gymnopædia of Lacedæmon,[1510] the endymatia at Argos, and some public spectacles in Arcadia. The regulations established at this period appear to have continued in force as long as the Spartan customs were kept up, and were the chief means by which the changes attempted to be introduced during the several epochs of Melanippides, Cinesias, Phrynis, and Timotheus the Milesian were prevented from being carried into effect. Thus Ecprepes the ephor, on observing that the cithara of Phrynis had two strings more than the allowed number, immediately cut them out; and the[1511] same thing is said to have happened to Timotheus at the Carnean festival.[1512] The account is, however, contradicted by an improbable story, that the accused minstrel justified himself by referring to a statue of Apollo at Sparta, which had a lyre containing the same number of strings.[1513] At least Pausanias[1514] saw in the hall of music at Sparta[1515] (σκιὰς), the eleven-stringed cithara which was taken from Timotheus, and there hung up.
It is well known that a Spartan decree is supposed to exist,[1516] on this real or fabulous transaction respecting the eleven-stringed cithara of Timotheus. It recites, that “whereas Timotheus of Miletus, despising the harmony of the seven-stringed cithara, poisoned the ears of the young men by increasing the number of strings, and introducing a new and effeminate species of melody; and that having been invited to perform at the festival of the Eleusian Ceres, he exhibited an indecent representation of the holy rites, and most improperly instructed the young men in the mystery of the labour-pains of Semele; it is decreed that the kings and ephors should reprimand Timotheus, and compel him to reduce the number of strings on his cithara to seven; in order that every person in future, being conscious of the dignity of the state, might beware of introducing improper customs into Sparta, and the fame of the contests be preserved unsullied.”[1517] But the authenticity [pg 331] of the inscription is so doubtful, to say no more, that we dare not deduce any historical inferences from it. For in the first place, the style of the document appears to have been formed upon the model of a common Athenian honorary decree, only that censure is inserted instead of praise with a sort of mock gravity. There is nothing in it characteristic of Spartan manners, but much that is foreign and almost strange; for example, it is not even stated who proposed and approved the decree. Secondly, a decree upon such a subject is not consistent with the general spirit of the government of Sparta, which was distinguished by its summary method of proceeding. Every ephor, as inspector of the games, had the same powers individually as are here attributed to the whole college, and the kings; who had (it is true) a place of honour at the public games, but no share in the direction of them. The Eleusinia, in the form of a theatrical festival, were at least celebrated in Sparta at a late date.[1518] That Timotheus should have ventured to produce his “Birth of Bacchus” at those games is very surprising; but still more so is the account of his having taught it to the Spartan youths, which can only mean that he contrived to have it represented by the young men of the town. Now the Ὠδὶν of Timotheus was a dithyrambic ode of the mimic species, which was a late invention performed by regular actors, not by a [pg 332] public chorus. How then is it possible that the latter should have been the case at Sparta? The learned distinction between different styles of music in the decree, clearly savours less of Laconian brevity than of the self-complacency of some grammarian.[1519] Most of the expressions used may be traced to the comic poets of Athens, and contain no Spartan peculiarities, and yet an accurate explanation of them might lead us into many difficulties. Lastly, the dialect appears to me to be the composition of some one who had accidentally become acquainted with peculiar Spartan inflections. The letter Ρ is most suspiciously used throughout; the author had evidently an erroneous notion that Θ is not Laconian, and should be changed into Τ, instead of Σ.[1520] The editors have endeavoured to make considerable alterations in the orthography;[1521] but by this means all possibility of criticism is made hopeless. It is therefore probable that some grammarian has taken the trouble to draw up a Laconian decree from one of the stories respecting Timotheus, the interest of which should consist in the austerity of the sentiments, and the roughness of the dialect. That the inventor really intended it for a public monument, is evident from the ancient style of writing, which was abolished at Athens [pg 333] at the archonship of Euclid, and in Sparta perhaps later.[1522]
In Crete the national music was once formed on the same principles as in Lacedæmon,[1523] but became relaxed in course of time. In a Cnosian[1524] decree made at the beginning of the second century before Christ, an ambassador is commended for having often played on the cithara the melodies of Timotheus, Polyidus,[1525] and the ancient Cretan poets. In Argos, too, the first person who used a cithara with more than seven strings was punished;[1526] and in Sicyon, also, there were laws appointed to regulate musical contests.[1527]
4. The chief reason why the state constantly interfered in the regulation of music was, that it was considered much more as expressing the general tone of the feeling and morals of the people, than as an art which might be left to its own capabilities of improvement. Historical examples confirm the truth of this close connexion, and in particular, it is alleged respecting the Dorians of Sicily, that by introducing a soft effeminate music, they destroyed the purity of their morals;[1528] while the strict domestic discipline at Sparta would hardly have been preserved without the assistance of the ancient style of music which was there cultivated. In order to explain this, it is necessary [pg 334] to observe, that in those times music formed a much more universal branch of education, and was practised to a far greater extent by the people at large, than it has ever been since.[1529] We may trace the progress of music, as it from time to time fell more into the hands of individual artists, whilst the populace, which in the infancy of the art took a part in the exhibition, gradually became mere spectators. The command of an ancient Delphic oracle,[1530] that public thanksgivings should be offered to Bromius by the whole people for a fruitful year, by singing choruses in the streets, was also followed at Sparta, at least in the Gymnopædia. At this festival large choruses of men and boys appeared,[1531] in which many of the inhabitants of the city doubtless took part. From this circumstance either the whole or part of the market was called chorus;[1532] and it is probable that the spacious (εὐρύχοροι) cities of Homer were merely furnished with open squares large enough to contain such numerous choruses. It was at these great city choruses that those of blemished reputation always occupied the hindermost rows:[1533] sometimes, nevertheless, men of consideration, when placed there by the arranger of the chorus, boasted that they did honour to the places, the places did not dishonour them.[1534]
Those placed at the back of the chorus were called (like the soldiers arrayed behind the line of battle) ψιλεῖς;[1535] the choregus, however, did not merely defray the expenses of the chorus, but he also led it in person; and indeed a choregos once performed the duties of flute-player at Lacedæmon.[1536] If then every citizen took some part in these choruses, it follows that they must have been trained to them, and have practised them from childhood; as we know on the other hand that the whole musical instruction of Crete and Sparta was intended as a preparation for them.[1537] Accordingly, the musical school was called chorus among the Dorians;[1538] in musical training there was a constant reference to the public choral dances. Hence we perceive that, at least in early times, a certain cultivation of music within the limits prescribed by the national manners was common to all Spartans; and the saying of the poet Socrates,[1539] “that the bravest of the Greeks also made the finest choruses,” was peculiarly applicable to them; also Pratinas the scenic poet speaks of “the Lacedæmonian cicada,[1540] as ready for [pg 336] the chorus.”[1541] In later times, indeed, the numbers of the citizens in Sparta so greatly diminished, and war occupied so much of the public attention, that the favourable side of Spartan discipline was cast into the shade, and Aristotle ascribes with truth to the Spartans of his time a just discrimination and taste for music, but no scientific knowledge of it.[1542]
The cultivation of music, however, was the more general among the Dorians and kindred race of Arcadians, from the circumstance that women took a part in it, and sang and danced in public both with men and by themselves.[1543] On the nature of the parthenia, or the choruses performed by girls, the character and education of Doric virgins enable us to decide with confidence, when we are told, that the parthenia were accompanied by Dorian music, and there was something in them exceedingly grave and solemn.[1544] It appears likewise, that aged persons, who at Athens would have been ridiculed for dancing at religious ceremonies, at Sparta often took a part in the great choruses, as is proved by the accounts of the three great choirs of boys, men, and old men, which seem to have danced at several great festivals.[1545]
5. Having now in the foregoing remarks considered the peculiarities of the Doric race, as well in general [pg 337] as with respect to Sparta in particular, we shall next give some account of the progress of music among the several states of that race.
That the religious music and poetry of the Dorians originated in Crete, has been shown above:[1546] and perhaps the loud and irregular music of the early Phrygian inhabitants first awakened a taste for that art among the Dorians. The nome, the pæan, and the hyporcheme,[1547] had been known in Crete from an early period, though the more polished form of the two last was introduced by Thaletas. The dances in a ring were often connected with the nome and hyporcheme, according to an ancient custom in Crete and the neighbouring regions; and they were danced by both men and women.[1548] At Sparta there were the same dancers, known by the name of ῥμοι, or ornaments.[1549] The youth danced first some movements suited to his age, and of a military nature; the maiden followed in measured steps, and with feminine gestures. The Spartan music was in general derived from the Cretan, nor did it attempt to disown its origin; indeed many favourite dances, with their tunes, and certain pæans, ordered by law to be sung at appointed times, together with many other kinds of music, were called Cretan.[1550] But it cannot be denied that, although their origin may have been [pg 338] similar, their progress and development were very different. The Cretan music appears to have been almost entirely warlike and religious, while the Spartan, from the time of Alcman, was adapted to more various purposes. Peculiar kinds of Lacedæmonian dances were in existence at the time of Cleisthenes of Sicyon;[1551] they consisted both of motions of the hands and feet, as Aristoxenus states of several ancient national dances.[1552] The early zeal for music in these regions is shown by the contests in the temple of Zeus at Ithome in Messenia, in which Eumelus engaged before the first war with Lacedæmon:[1553] the contests of the Muses connected with the Carnean festival began in the 26th Olympiad (676 B.C.). In the time of Polycrates, Argos possessed the most celebrated musicians in Greece,[1554] particularly flute-players; about the 48th Olympiad (588 B.C.) Sacadas wrote poetry, composed music, and played lyric songs and elegies to the flute:[1555] a particular kind of flute was called the Argive.[1556] Sicyon also appears to have had a share in these improvements: for after Sacadas had thrice gained the prize, Pythocritus of Sicyon was victorious in six following contests;[1557] and the dithyrambic chorus to the flute was performed there with great skill and effect.[1558] That at Sicyon, Corinth, and Phlius, the worship of Bacchus gave a peculiar turn to music [pg 339] and poetry, has been remarked above,[1559] and will be explained at greater length hereafter. In Sicily the worship of Demeter prevailed, which was always attended with a degree of licentiousness; the Syracusan choruses of iambists[1560] were, without doubt, connected with this worship.[1561] The circumstance that the effeminate dances of the Ionians were celebrated there in honour of Artemis,[1562] was probably occasioned by music having degenerated in that island.[1563]
6. We do not intend to consider the subject of dancing independently of music; as this combination appears to be most convenient for our purpose of ascertaining its importance as connected with manners and public education. Dancing, when it did not merely accompany the time of the music, inclined either to gymnastic display or to mimicry; that is, it either represented bodily activity, or it was meant to express certain ideas and feelings. The gymnastic dancing was no where so much practised as at Sparta, where the ancient connexion between the musical school and the palæstra, and of both with the military exercises,[1564] was more strictly maintained than in any other state. Indeed the march of the Spartans and Cretans had, on account of its musical accompaniment, some resemblance to a dance. [pg 340] For, whereas the other Greeks either marched to battle without any music, in the manner of the ancient Achæans, or, like the Argives, made use of Tyrrhenian trumpets,[1565] the Cretans advanced to battle to the sound of the lyre,[1566] the Spartans to that of the flute.[1567] This last seems, however, to have been an innovation; for Alcman the Laconian mentions the cithara;[1568] and the Cretans also introduced the flute in their army.[1569] However, be this as it may, the flute had become the common instrument at Sparta; probably because the cithara was not fitted for uniting large bodies of men, its sound being too low to produce any effect, even during a complete stillness. The sound of flutes was doubtless more piercing, and particularly when a great number of pipers (who in Sparta formed several native families)[1570] played the tune for attack. Thucydides remarks that this was not for any religious purpose, but that the troops might march in time, [pg 341] and not as large armies are apt to do, fall into disorder.[1571] The general term for a tune of this kind was embaterion.[1572] One kind of nome was called castoreum, which, like the others, was played on the flute, when the army marched in line to meet the enemy.[1573] This had the same rhythm[1574] as the other embateria,[1575] viz. an anapæstic; both in its measure and melody there was something very enlivening and animated,[1576] so that Alexander of Macedon always felt himself inspired with fresh bravery when Timotheus the Theban played the castoreum to him. There can be no doubt that it was originally set in the Doric mode, and bore the character of Spartan simplicity, notwithstanding the many variations which were afterwards added.[1577] Pindar is reminded by its name of Castor the horseman and charioteer;[1578] but I do not perceive what relation the most ancient use of this nome, as a march for the Spartans, could have to this point: but it clearly took its name from the Tyndaridæ, who were considered as [pg 342] the leaders of the Spartan army.[1579] That of the poems of Tyrtæus the anapæstic verses only were sung as marches, and that they were embateria, is now generally admitted.[1580] The elegies were sung in campaigns, at meals, and after the pæan, not in chorus, but singly, and for a prize. The polemarch decided,[1581] and the victor was rewarded with a chosen piece of meat.[1582] The Cretans had also embateria, named after Ibycus, a musician.[1583]
7. That war among these ancient nations had something of an imitative nature, and that it was by imperceptible transitions connected with the pure imitations of art, I have already attempted to show;[1584] and the same may be inferred from what has been just said. A transition of this kind was formed by the Pyrrhic dance, the dancers of which bore the same name as the practised, armed and expert combatant [pg 343] (πρύλις).[1585] The Pyrrhic dance was undoubtedly a production of the Doric nation in Crete and Sparta,[1586] although in the former state it was fabulously connected with the Curetes and the rites of the ancient Idæan Zeus,[1587] and at Sparta with the Dioscuri. It was danced to the flute,[1588] and its time was very quick and light, as is shown by the name of the Pyrrhic foot. Hence in Crete Thaletas was able to add hyporchematic or mimic variations to it,[1589] which had likewise quick measures. From this account it may be also inferred that the war-dance of Crete was of an imitative kind; and indeed Plato says of the Pyrrhic dance in general that it imitated all the attitudes of defence, by avoiding a thrust or a cast, retreating, springing up, and crouching, as also the opposite movements of attack with arrows and lances, and also of every kind of thrust.[1590] So strong was the attachment to this dance at Sparta, that, long after it had in the other Greek states degenerated into a Bacchanalian revel, it was still danced by the Spartans as a warlike exercise, and boys of fifteen were instructed in it.[1591]
8. But we must return to the subject whence we digressed, the connexion between gymnastic exercises and dancing. These two arts were connected [pg 344] by the pentathlon, a pattern of adroitness, activity, strength and measured motions, which was accompanied by the music of the flute.[1592] In later times any tunes were used for this exhibition; but earlier certain fixed measures were played, one of which had been composed by Hierax, a disciple of Olympus:[1593] nor at that time did distinguished artists disdain to appear as actors in these sports, as, for example, Pythocritus of Sicyon. At Argos, at the Sthenia, the combatants wrestled to the sound of the flute;[1594] and a melody of this same Hierax was played[1595] when the women carried flowers (at a festival) to the temple of Here. At Sparta the chief object of the Gymnopædia was to represent gymnastic exercises and dancing in intimate union, and indeed the latter only as the accomplishment and end of the former. One of the principal games at this festival resembled the anapale, or wrestling-dance; the boys danced in regular time with graceful motions of the hands, in which the methods of the wrestling-school and the pancration were shown; at the same time, however, this dance had some mixture of the Bacchanalian kind.[1596] Thus also the youths (ephebi) of Sparta, when they were skilled in their exercises, danced in rows behind each other, to the music of the flute, first military, then choral dances, and at the same time repeated two verses, of which one was an invitation to Aphrodite [pg 345] and Eros to join them, the other an exhortation to one another.[1597] There was also a dance with a ball at Sparta and Sicyon.[1598] The Bibasis, a dance of men and women, was of the gymnastic kind;[1599] all the dancers struck their feet behind, a feat, of which a Spartan woman in Aristophanes prides herself.[1600] Prizes were given to the most skilful; and we are told by a verse which has been preserved that a Laconian girl had danced the Bibasis a thousand times more than any other had done.[1601] Besides the Bibasis the Dipodia is mentioned;[1602] but so little is known about it, that the origin of its name even is not clear.[1603] In a comedy of Aristophanes a chorus of Lacedæmonians danced a Dipodia to the flute, and sing, chiefly in trochaic metre, of the battles of Thermopylæ and Artemisium, and the friendship of Sparta and Athens; after which follows another song, which was probably danced in the same manner. In this the chorus implores the Laconian Muse to come from mount Taygetus, and to celebrate the tutelar deities of Sparta; and urges itself to the dance in words which give a very good idea of its character: “Come [pg 346] hither with a light motion to sing of Sparta. Where there are choruses in honour of the gods, and the noise of dancing, when, like young horses, the maidens on the banks of the Eurotas rapidly move their feet; while their hair floats, like revelling Bacchanals; and the daughter of Leda directs them, the sacred leader of the chorus. Now bind up the hair, and leap like fawns; now strike the measured tune which gladdens the chorus.”[1604] Many points in this description remind us of the dances of the Laconian maidens at the worship of Artemis of Caryæ, which were animated and vehement.[1605]
9. We now come to the dances whose object was to express and represent some peculiar meaning. This was either some feeling (to which class almost all the religious as well as the theatrical dances belong) or some outward object; to which we may refer the mimic dances. To the latter, the Pyrrhic and the Gymnopædian dances belong, and to the religious, the Hyporcheme, which we treated of in connexion with the worship of Apollo.[1606] Of this description was perhaps the Bryallicha,[1607] a dance in honour of [pg 347] Artemis and Apollo, danced by women, or, as some assert, by men in hideous women's masks, who at the same time sang hymns to the two deities.[1608] The name signifies a violent leap; and from what we can gather elsewhere respecting the character of this dance, it appears to have been irregular and licentious. How it agrees with the worship of Apollo, one does not exactly perceive, unless it is supposed that some fable in the history of that god was represented in a mimic style, which admitted of such irregularity. The worship of Artemis, however, had other forms which produced these licentious dances, as in Laconia itself the Calabis.[1609]
A few particulars respecting several Laconian dances have been preserved by a grammarian,[1610] whose [pg 348] account we will insert at full, adding only some remarks of our own. “The Deimalea was danced by Sileni and Satyrs waltzing in a circle,” its name being perhaps derived from the cowardice (δεῖμα) of these “useless and worthless fellows,” as Hesiod calls them.[1611] “The Ithymbi was danced to Bacchus, the dance of the Caryatides to Artemis; the Bryallicha was so called after its inventor Bryallichus; it was danced by women to Apollo and Artemis.” The following dances also, as appears from the conclusion, were Laconian. The Hypogypones imitated old men with sticks. The Gypones danced on wooden stilts, and wearing transparent Tarentine dresses. The Menes was danced by Charini,[1612] and took its name from the flute-player who invented it. There was a Bacchanalian dance called “Tyrbasia,” probably resembling the Argive Tyrbè, and deriving its name from its intricate mazes. “A dance in which they mimicked those who were caught stealing the remains of meals was called Mimelic. But the Gymnopœdia, danced with jests and merriment, was more splendid.” The merry spirit, and the love for comic exhibition, which produced all these mimic dances, is shown in these imperfect notices, the deficiencies of which we can only supply in one instance, viz. in the account of the Deicelictæ (or Mimeli). There was at [pg 349] Sparta an ancient play, but it was probably acted only by the common people, and quite extempore, nor ever by regular players.[1613] From the account of Nepos it may be also conjectured that it was performed by unmarried women. The name Deicelictæ (or Mimeli) merely means “imitators;”[1614] but it came to signify only comic imitators.[1615] In this play there was not (according to Sosibius)[1616] any great art; for Sparta in all things loved simplicity. It represented in plain and common language either a foreign physician or stealers of fruit (probably boys), who were caught with their stolen goods;[1617] that is, it was an imitation of common life, probably alternating with comic dances.
10. In Laconia it was chiefly the lower orders who had any decided love for comedy and buffoonery; for with the Dorians we only now and then discover a ray of levity or mirth piercing the gravity of their nature. I have already mentioned,[1618] that from the Helots, who dwelt in the houses of the Spartans, and were called Mothones, or Mothaces, a kind of riotous dance took [pg 350] its name, in which drunken persons were probably represented; whence perhaps was derived the story that the Spartans intoxicated their slaves as a warning to their children. Other dances may perhaps have been common among the peasants, and particularly among the shepherds of remote regions.
It is an interesting question, and one allied to the present inquiry, to ascertain the origin of the bucolic poetry of the ancients. No one can doubt that its mingled character of simplicity, nature, and buffoonery, was copied from real life. Now the manners which it represented could neither have been those of slaves, for the condition of slavery does not admit of any regular society; nor yet of free citizens, for the rustic scenes of this poetry wholly disagree with a city life. It remains therefore that it imitated the life of subjects, of bondmen, such as existed as a separate class in the Doric states, and accordingly bucolic poems are commonly in the Doric dialect. It is related, that when Xerxes had overrun Greece, and the Spartan women could not perform the customary rites of Artemis Caryatis, the shepherds came from the mountains, and sang pastoral hymns to the goddess.[1619] From this confused account we may collect that in the north of Laconia there had been some rude essays of pastoral poetry. In this respect, however, the shepherds of Italy and Sicily have become far more celebrated; Epicharmus mentions their bucolics (βουκολιασμοὶ), as a kind of dance and song;[1620] and even before his time [pg 351] Stesichorus had formed them into a species of lyric poetry.[1621] Nevertheless their origin appears not to have been independent of one another, for both in Laconia and Sicily the name of Tityrus was used for the leading goat or ram of the flock.[1622] That the same name should equally distinguish the human and animal leader of the flock, is a trait of the simplicity of those men, who passed their days among valleys and pastures, harmlessly tending their flocks, and taking no more notice of other modes of life than sending from time to time the produce of their industry to the city. Now in Sicily these shepherds were not of Greek extraction, but were undoubtedly of the aboriginal Siculian population, the ancient worshippers of the goddess Pales;[1623] and it is not improbable that the bucolic poetry owed its origin to native talent. Even the ancient legend of Daphnis, who lost his eyes through his love for a nymph,[1624] appears to me rather of a Siculian than Grecian cast; although how far the character of the Greeks and of the native inhabitants were opposed, is a very obscure subject of inquiry.[1625]
11. To conclude; as in Attica, so among the Dorians, comedy connected itself with the country festivals of Bacchus; and, as Aristotle says,[1626] originated from the extemporaneous songs of those who led the Phallic processions, which were still customary in many Greek cities at the time of that philosopher. Of this, Sicyon furnishes an example. There was there a dance called Ἀλητὴρ,[1627] which was probably of a Phallic nature; and also a comic entertainment, called the Phallophori,[1628] in which the actors, with their heads and faces adorned with flowers, but unmasked, came into the theatre, in stately garments, some at the common entrance, some at the scene-doors; the Phallophorus, his face smeared with soot, walked first from among them, and, after giving notice that they came with a new song in honour of Bacchus, they began to ridicule any person they chose to select. Thus too the Phlyaces of Tarentum were probably connected with the worship of Bacchus, whose festivals were accompanied with similar rejoicings in Sicily.[1629]
Yet the rites of Demeter sometimes gave rise among the Dorians to lascivious entertainments of this kind, as we learn from the description in Herodotus of the Æginetan choruses of women at the festival of Artemis and Auxesia, which provoked others of their sex [pg 353] by riotous and insulting language.[1630] These mockeries were, however, only the humour of the moment, and were merely accessaries to certain dances and songs; but among the Megarians, comedy, we know not by what means, obtained a more artificial character, and a more independent form.