The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race, Vol. 2 of 2

by Karl Otfried Müller

Chapter VII.

§ 1. Origin of comedy at Megara. § 2. Life and drama of Epicharmus. § 3. Traces of theatrical representations on painted vases. § 4. Political and philosophical tendency of the drama of Epicharmus. § 5. Mimes of Sophron. § 6. Plays of Rhinthon. § 7. Origin of tragedy at the city festivals of Bacchus. § 8. Early history of the Doric tragedy. § 9. Character of the Doric lyric poetry. § 10. Doric lyric poets. § 11. Origin of the Doric lyric poetry. § 12. Character of the Doric style of sculpture.

1. At Athens, a coarse and ill-mannered jest was termed a Megarian joke;[1631] which may be considered as a certain proof of the decided propensity of that people to humour. This is confirmed by the claims of the Megarians, who disputed the invention of comedy with the Athenians,[1632] and perhaps not without justice, if indeed the term invention be at all applicable [pg 354] to the rise of the several branches of poetry, which sprung so gradually, and at such different times, from the particular feelings excited by the ancient festival rites, that it is difficult, and perhaps impossible, to fix upon the period at which the species of composition to which each gave rise was sufficiently advanced to be called a particular kind of poetry. Yet it is in the highest degree probable that the Athenians were indebted for the earliest form of their comic poetry to the Megarians. The Megarian comedy is ridiculed by Ecphantides, one of the early comic poets of Athens, as rude and unpolished, which circumstance alone makes its higher antiquity probable.[1633] Ecphantides, whom Aristophanes, Cratinus, and others, ridicule as rough and unpolished,[1634] looks down in his turn on those who had introduced comedy from Megara, and claims the merit of first seasoning the uncouth Megarian productions with Attic salt. But one of the earliest introducers of comedy was, according to the most credible and authentic accounts, Susarion, a native of Tripodiscus, an ancient village in the Megarian territory;[1635] in Attica he made his first appearance in the village of Icaria,[1636] situated on [pg 355] the borders of Megaris and Bœotia;[1637] where it is known from mythological fables, that the rural festival of Bacchus had been celebrated from an early period. The argument for its Doric origin, derived from the name κωμῳδία, “the village-song” (the Peloponnesians calling their villages κῶμαι, and the Athenians δῆμοι), is by no means conclusive, as the derivation of that name from the word κῶμος, a tumultuous festival procession, is far more probable. The early time at which comedy must have flourished may be seen from the fact, that it passed over to Athens in the 50th Olympiad;[1638] but of its character we should form a very partial judgment, if we trusted implicitly to the accounts of the Athenian neighbours; and yet we have no other means of information.

The ancient comedy of Susarion, and of the Megarians, was (as is clear from the passage of Ecphantides) founded on a dramatic principle; although a species of lyric poetry, also called comedy, had existed from an early period among the Dorians and Æolians;[1639] nor can I admit the opinion of Aristotle, [pg 356] that Epicharmus and Phormis were the first who wrote a comedy with a plot or story; previously to those poets, only some extempore and abusive speeches (ἰαμβίζειν) were, according to his view of the subject, introduced between the songs of the chorus; but if this had been the case, the Megarian comedy would not have differed materially from the Sicyonian sports of the Phallophori, nor have attracted so much attention as it actually did. A Megarian actor, named Mæson, is often mentioned by the ancients as the inventor of masks of certain characters of low comedy, as cooks, scullions, sailors, and the like.[1640] Hence it may be inferred that these Megarian farces, with their established or frequently recurring characters, had some resemblance to the Oscan Atellane plays.

2. It is indeed very probable that the Megarian furnished the first germ and elements of the Sicilian comedy, as perfected by Epicharmus. For the Megarians in Sicily, as well as those near Athens, laid claim, according to Aristotle,[1641] to the invention of comedy, and there is no doubt that a communication was kept up between those two states. Now it is possible that comedy was brought from Megara to Syracuse, when Gelon (484 or 483 B.C.)[1642] transplanted the inhabitants from the former to the latter city; and thus the elements of comedy which existed in the choruses and iambic speeches, were, by their subsequent combination with a more improved species of poetry, brought to maturity. This supposition, [pg 357] however, rests upon mere conjecture. Epicharmus, the son of Helothales,[1643] must have gone to Syracuse at this emigration, having formerly resided at Megara; but he cannot be considered as the person who really introduced comedy at Syracuse, as he had lived only a short time at Megara; he was, as we are credibly informed, a native of Cos,[1644] and went to Sicily with Cadmus, that is, about, or soon after, 480 B.C.,[1645] and he must at this time have been at least a youth, in order to have acquired a name and influence in the reign of Hieron (between 478 and 467 B.C.)[1646] In confirmation of the statement that he was a native of Cos, it may be remarked, that he was likewise a physician, which was the regular profession of his brother, his family being probably connected with that of the Asclepiadæ. Phormis, or Phormus, who by Aristotle and others is often mentioned with Epicharmus, appears to have been earlier than that poet by some Olympiads, having been the friend of Gelon, and tutor to his children;[1647] but his fame was so completely [pg 358] eclipsed by that of his successor, that there is scarcely anything remaining of his plays, except a few titles,[1648] which however show that he parodied mythological subjects.

But Epicharmus is much less known and esteemed than his peculiar style of writing and dramatic skill deserve; and those authors greatly err, who fix upon the period when his peculiar kind of poetry had arrived at perfection, as the commencement of the Athenian comedy, and attribute the clumsy and rustic simplicity from which the latter emerged, to the Sicilian style, which had enjoyed all the advantages which the life of a city and court could afford.[1649] Before, therefore, we enter into details respecting the dramas, of Epicharmus, we will say a few words on the nature of his subjects, and his mode of handling them.

The subjects of the plays of Epicharmus were chiefly mythological, that is, parodies or travesties of mythology, nearly in the style of the satyric drama of Athens. Thus in the comedy of Busiris, Hercules was represented in the most ludicrous light, as a voracious glutton, and he was again exhibited in the same character (with a mixture perhaps of satirical remarks on the luxury of the times) in “the Marriage of Hebe,” in which an astonishing number of [pg 359] dishes was mentioned.[1650] We can however form a better notion of the drama called “Hephæstus, or the Revellers,” chiefly by the help of some ancient works of art, which have come down to us. The play began we are told, with Hephæstus chaining his mother Here by magical charms to a seat, from which he only released her after long entreaties.[1651] Now on a vase discovered at Bari in the kingdom of Naples, and now preserved in the British Museum,[1652] Here, with the superscription ᾽ΗΡΑ,[1653] is seen seated on a throne; on her right is a clown fantastically dressed, whom his pointed cap marks as a servant of Hephæstus, and his name, Dædalus, is written over his head;[1654] on her left is Mars, dressed, with the exception of his helmet, in the same fashion (with the superscription ΕΝΕΥΑΛΙΟΣ); both these figures are armed, and endeavouring, the one to dissolve, the other to strengthen the charm by which Here is held. The whole scene is evidently supposed to take place on a stage, leading to which there are some steps; and as there were no other Sicilian or Italian comedies on the same subject, it may without hesitation be considered as a representation of the first part of the Hephæstus of Epicharmus.

The legend went on to say, that Hephæstus, having in consequence of this act been ill-treated by his parents, entirely deserted Olympus, until Bacchus, having contrived to make him drunk, placed him on an ass, and thus brought him in jolly merriment back to Olympus; to which transaction the other title of the piece, “the Revellers,” evidently alludes. Now this scene also has been transmitted to us in some ancient paintings, which although they do not exhibit the theatrical dress and the place of performance so clearly as that just mentioned, are evidently taken from comedies. There is on a Coghill vase[1655] a procession in which the names of the several individuals composing it are superscribed; first Marsyas as a flute-player; then Comedy, in a state of violent motion; next Bacchus, in the ancient festival costume; and lastly, Hephæstus, who in other compositions of the same subject is drawn riding on an ass.

3. From these data, I will leave it to the judgment and taste of the reader to draw his own conclusions on the character of the drama of Epicharmus. But I may take this opportunity of remarking, that the painted vases of lower Italy often enable us to gain a complete and vivid idea of the theatrical representations of that country. From this source I have above traced a farce, in which Hercules delivers the Cercopes to Eurystheus, or some other king,[1656] and perhaps also the picture of Hercules in the form of a pigmy, and fighting with the cranes, was derived from [pg 361] a similar source.[1657] We may likewise mention the picture of Zeus and Hermes, the latter with a lantern, and the former with a ladder, both dressed in the most ridiculous and fantastical costume, in the act of ascending to a fair female, who is expecting them at her window.[1658] It seems also probable, that the buffoon represented on a vase, as sitting on a fish, and making ridiculous grimaces,[1659] is a caricature of the Tarentine fable of Taras on the dolphin. The costume, which reminds us of the Italian Policinello and Arlecchino,[1660] proves that it was taken from a dramatic representation, which however is still more conspicuous on the painted vase of Asteas,[1661] on which, among a number of clowns, one is seen stretched on a couch, evidently the bed of Procrustes. But it is remarkable, that in this case the performers do not bear the names of the heroes whom they travesty, but those of their masks. The one on the bed is called ΧΑΡΙΝΟΣ, or Gracioso (which name was likewise in use at Sparta);[1662] the others are named ΔΙΑΣΥΡΟΣ “the jester:” ΚΑΓΧΑΣ “the laugher;”[1663] and ΓΥΜΝΑΣΟΣ, if the letters are read correctly: these are evidently names of standing characters of a dramatic fable, resembling the Attelane farces of Campania. The vase was moreover discovered in Campania.[1664]

4. But to return to Epicharmus; the comedy of this poet was by no means confined to parodies of mythological stories, as he also, like Aristophanes, handled political subjects, and invented comic characters like the later Athenian poets; and indeed the extent of his subjects was very wide. The piece called Ἁρπαγαὶ, or “the Plunderings,” which described the devastation of Sicily in his time, had, according to Hemsterhuis,[1665] a political meaning; and this was perhaps also the case with the Νᾶσοι, or “the Islands:” at least it was mentioned in this play, that Hieron had prevented Anaxilas from destroying Locri (477 B.C.);[1666] in his “Persians” also there were allusions to the history of the times. The play called the “Countryman” (Ἀγρωστῖνος, i.e. ἀγροῖκος), was an instance of the drama, which illustrated the character of a certain class of society. Epicharmus also introduced, and almost perfected characters, which were very common in the drama of later times;[1667] and if the plot of the Menæchmi of Plautus was, as the poet seems to state in the prologue, taken from a comedy of Epicharmus, it must be granted that the ingenious construction of plots was not beyond the powers of that poet.[1668] The style of his plays was not less various [pg 363] than his subjects, as he passed from the extreme of rude and comic buffoonery to a more serious and instructive vein, introducing maxims and moral sentences[1669] with precepts of the Pythagorean philosophy, in which he is said to have been initiated with Archytas and Philolaus the son of Arcesas, the successor of Pythagoras;[1670] and we know from Diogenes Laertius that he introduced long discourses of a speculative and philosophical nature, though it is not easy to see how they were connected with the rest of the piece. In the Ulysses (as I conjecture from the speech to Eumæus) he made incidentally some philosophical remarks on the instinct of animals;[1671] other pieces, such as “the Pyrrha and Prometheus,” and “the Land and Sea,” were by their subjects still more closely connected with philosophy; he also wrote some poems on questions of natural and moral philosophy, which, if we may judge from the imitation of Ennius, were composed in a theatrical and very lively metre, the trochaic tetrameter.[1672] That the dramatic style of Epicharmus was perfect in its kind, is proved by the great admiration it was held in by the ancients, particularly by Plato; and if the Attic comedy excelled in cutting satire and ridicule, the Sicilian poet [pg 364] had a higher and more general aim. The Athenian poets, if we may judge from Aristophanes, confined themselves wholly to the affairs of their own state, and it was their object to point out what they considered beneficial to the people. But Epicharmus had a different and higher object; for if the elements of his drama, which we have discovered singly, were in his plays combined, he must have set out with an elevated and philosophical view, which enabled him to satirize mankind, without disturbing the calmness and tranquillity of his thoughts; while at the same time his scenes of common life were marked with the acute and penetrating genius which characterized the Sicilians.[1673]

5. Notwithstanding this excellence, the comedy of Epicharmus was only an insulated and passing phenomenon, as we are not informed of any successors of that great poet, except Deinolochus[1674] his son, or rather his disciple. But about half a century after Epicharmus,[1675] Sophron, the mimographer, made his appearance, who was the author of a new species of comedy, though in many respects resembling that of his predecessor. Still this variety of the drama differed so much, not only from that of Sicily, but from any other which existed in Greece, that its origin must, after all our attempts at explanation, remain involved in great obscurity. The mimes of Sophron [pg 365] had no accompaniment of music or dancing, and they were written, not in verse, but in prose, though perhaps in certain rhythmical divisions.[1676] This latter circumstance seems quite singular, and without example in the Greek literature which has been transmitted to us. But that it was in reality so, seems improbable, when we remember that there would naturally be an intermediate rhythm, formed at the transition from the metrical to the prosaic style;[1677] and with the Dorians this would have taken the form of concise and disjointed sentences, a periodical style being more suited to the Athenians. We are led to this notion by the consideration of some remains of Lacedæmonian composition, in which no one can fail to see the rhythmical form and symmetry of the sentences. Thus in the famous letter of Hippocrates,[1678]

ἔρρει τὰ καλά. Μίνδαρος γ᾽ ἀπεσσούα;

πεινῶντι τὤνδρες; ἀπορέομες τι χρὴ δρᾶν.

and also in that of the Lacedæmonian women, preserved by Plutarch,[1679]

κακὰ τεῦ φάμα κακκέχυται;

ταύταν ἀπωθεῦ, ἢ μὴ ἔσο,

where the rhythm passes insensibly into verse; which is less strikingly the case in other instances.[1680]

Whether the mimes of Sophron were publicly represented or not, is a question not easily answered. It would however be singular, if a poetical work had been intended only for reading, in an age when everything was written, not for the public eye, but for the public ear. It is certainly more probable that these mimes were originally part of the amusements of certain festivals, as was the case with the Spartan deicelictæ, which they resembled more than any other variety of the drama.[1681] Indeed it can be easily conceived, that farces of this description, acted by persons who had a quick perception of the eccentricities and peculiarities of mankind, and a talent for mimicry, should have existed among the Dorians of Sicily, as well as of Laconia, particularly as the former were celebrated for their imitative skill.[1682] Even Agathocles the tyrant excited the laughter, not merely of his guests and companions, but of whole assemblies of the people, by ridiculing certain known characters, in the manner of an ethologus, or merry andrew.[1683] Accordingly the mimes of Sophron, by which these rude attempts were improved, and raised to a regular species of the drama, were distinguished by their faithful imitation of manners, even of the vulgar, and the solecisms and rude dialect of the common people were copied with great exactness;[1684] whence the numerous [pg 367] sayings and proverbs which were introduced.[1685] On the other hand, he was most skilful in seizing the more delicate shades and turns of feeling, and in preserving the unity and consistency of his characters, without which he would never have been so much admired by Plato, or the study of his works have been so serviceable in the composition of the Socratic dialogues, as we know on good authority to have been the case;[1686] and hence we should compare the scenery of Plato's dialogues with the poems of Theocritus, which we know to be imitated from the female mimes of Sophron, in order to obtain a proper idea of those master-pieces. His talent for description must however have been supported and directed by moral considerations; which probably preponderated rather in the serious (μῖμοι σπουδαῖοι), and were less prominent in the common mimes (μῖμοι γέλοιοι). The tribe of Aretalogi and Ethologi, who originally spoke much of virtue and morality, but gradually sank into mere buffoons, appears to have come from Sicily, and was, perhaps through several intermediate links, connected with Sophron.[1687]

In considering these philosophical sports, which mingled in the same breath the grave and solemn lessons of philosophy and the most ludicrous mimicry and buffoonery, we may perhaps find a reason why Persius, a youth educated in the Stoic sect, should [pg 368] have thought of making Sophron the model of his Satires. This statement is given by a late, but in this instance a credible writer,[1688] and is confirmed by the dramatic character of the Satires of Persius, and the constant use of mimicry in them, particularly the first four; so much so indeed, that a study of Persius is the best method of forming an accurate and lively idea of the mimes of Sophron.

6. The Dorians in general had evidently less poetical skill and feeling than the Athenians, and did not cultivate those rude attempts of wit and mirth which the festivals called forth, and of which the Athenians knew so well how to take advantage. This incapacity or negligence of the early times enables us to explain why several kinds of Doric poetry were not received into the literature of civilized Greece until the Alexandrian age, of which we may particularly specify the bucolic poetry, and the phlyaces of Tarentum. These carnival sports had doubtless been represented for ages, before they acquired, in the time of Ptolemy the First, notoriety in other places by the poems of Rhinthon, which were named after them. These plays are also called Ἱλαροτραγῳδία,[1689] or tragi-comedy; and both these and the titles of some pieces[1690] and fragments handed down to us show that they were burlesques of tragical subjects.[1691] It may, however, be easily supposed that Rhinthon [pg 369] did not lose sight of the Athenian tragedy, and it is possible that his two Iphigenias in particular, at Aulis and Tauris, contained many parodies of the two plays of Euripides. I should conceive, however, that he adhered generally to the form of the ancient phlyaces; thus for example, he faithfully imitated the dialect of Tarentum;[1692] we may also be assured that he polished the native farces, so as to fit them for theatrical representation. These pieces were generally written in trimeter iambics, which Rhinthon, however, framed somewhat carelessly, as may be seen from a fragment of his transmitted to us, where addressing himself to his verses, he declares “that he did not give himself much trouble about them;”[1693] it is also possible that he mixed the iambic with other metres, as parodies, for the sake of contrast; thus, for instance, he appears to have employed the solemn hexameter in some very ludicrous passages.[1694] Rhinthon was succeeded in this species of parody by Sopatrus, Sciras,[1695] and Blæsus; the last-named poet, [pg 370] a native of Capreæ in Campania, wrote (as may be inferred from the title of his “Saturn”) after the Roman manners and religion had gained the ascendency; but he used only the ancient dialect, and he too, being called a serio-comic poet (σπουδογελοίων ποιητὴς), seems to have adopted the same mixture of tragedy and comedy.[1696]

7. We have now dwelt at some length on the comic poetry of the Dorians, on account of the interesting nature of the subject, and the light which it throws on the general character of a people, among whom the strictest gravity was found closely united with the most unrestrained jocularity and mirth; for as every real jest requires for a foundation a firm, solid, and grave disposition of mind, so moral indifference, and a frivolous temperament, not only destroy the contrast between gravity and jest, but annihilate the spirit of both. Our inquiries on the early state of the tragic drama among the Dorians will be more concise. And we may first observe, that the great difference between tragedy and comedy did not exist originally but was only formed gradually in their development. Their only distinction at first was, that while comedy was more a sport and a merriment of the country festivals, tragedy was from its commencement connected with the public rejoicings and ceremonies of Bacchus in cities, and was performed by the great cyclic or dithyrambic choruses. Thence it came that the former expressed the boisterous mirth and joviality of clowns [pg 371] and peasants; whereas the latter was formed upon the particular ideas and feelings suggested by the worship of Bacchus, and by the part which he bore in mythology. It principally turned on the sufferings of Bacchus (Διονύσου πάθη), a point alluded to in some verses in the Iliad, though there is no doubt that it had been attempted at a much earlier period.[1697]

8. We shall now show how this applies to the tragedy of the Dorians. According to the account of Herodotus[1698] there were at Sicyon, an ancient seat of the worship of Bacchus, tragic choruses which sung of Bacchus, and undoubtedly of his sufferings. These choruses however had even before the age of Cleisthenes (Olymp. 45.) been transferred to Adrastus, the hero of that city, but they were by that tyrant restored to their former subject. The date of their restoration is therefore known; the time of their extension to Adrastus, and consequently of their foundation, must have been much more remote; this shows the comparatively late date of the Attic tragedy, which began with Thespis. Now we are also informed that Epigenes, a very ancient tragedian of Sicyon, was the sixteenth before Thespis;[1699] thus it appears that the ancients were in possession of a stock of information, which has been lost to us, that enabled them to draw [pg 372] up a regular succession of all the intermediate tragic poets. To this if we add that some of the Peloponnesians, as we are told by Aristotle,[1700] disputed with the Athenians the invention of tragedy,[1701] we shall not be inclined to deny the claims of the former, on the mere ground that their song, being drowned by the louder notes of the Athenians, was thus early silenced.

But it remains to be decided, whether this Sicyonian tragedy belonged to the regular drama, or whether it was merely a species of dithyrambic lyric poetry, the existence of which was first proved some few years ago by a learned writer of this country.[1702] Of these hypotheses the latter seems most probable, as the accounts of the Athenians respecting the origin and progress of their own tragedy can only then be justified, and because it is distinctly stated that the early tragedy consisted exclusively of choruses.[1703] But I should conceive that these Bacchanalian songs were always accompanied by some mimicry; which indeed the nature of that worship would seem to require; the liveliness of the feelings which it inspired calling for a personified representation of them; and thus Arion, who is styled the inventor of the tragic style (τραγικὸς πρόπος), is said to have introduced satyrs into his choruses.[1704] Arion, although by birth a Methymnæan, and probably a disciple of Terpander, chiefly lived and wrote (like his predecessors, mentioned above) in Peloponnesus and among Dorian [pg 373] nations. It was at Corinth, in the reign of Periander,[1705] that he first practised a cyclic chorus[1706] in the performance of a dithyramb,[1707] where he probably took advantage of some local accidents and rude beginnings, which alone could justify Pindar in considering Corinth as the native city of the dithyramb.[1708]

Thus the district of Corinth and Sicyon is of considerable importance in the early history of the drama. Phlius also, where the satirical drama probably first became a separate variety of the ancient tragedy, was situate in that part: whence being introduced into Athens, it was brought into a regular dramatical shape. For Pratinas the Phliasian is truly called the inventor of this species of the drama;[1709] and although he contended for the prize with Æschylus at Athens, he nevertheless must have remained a native of Phlius, as his son and successor Aristeas was a citizen of that city, and was buried there.[1710] I have nothing to remark respecting the satyric drama, except that it must have abounded in mimicry and pantomimic dances, such as were used under the name of hyporchemes in the temples of Apollo.[1711]

9. Having now examined the two species of the drama, comedy and tragedy, under different heads, we will next consider them under the general name of orchestic poetry, or poetry accompanied with dancing. For while all poetry which was necessarily attended with music was called lyric, that which was sung to accompany dances, frequently of large choruses, has been called the Doric lyric poetry;[1712] to which appellation it appears to be justly entitled, as in its various forms it always partakes more or less of the Doric dialect. Hence the terms Doric and Choral poetry may be used as synonymous, as songs for choral dances were usually composed in the Doric dialect; and whenever the Doric dialect occurred in regular lyric odes, these were generally for choral dances.[1713] Thus, for instance, Pindar, the master of the Dorian lyric poetry, composed scolia; which, unlike the poems sung at feasts, were accompanied with dances and contained more of the Doric dialect.[1714] Thus the dithyramb, so long as it belonged to the Dorian lyric poetry, was always antistrophic, that is, in a choral form, or one adapted to dancing; but after being new-modelled by Crexus, Phrynis, and others, it ceased to be acted by cyclic choruses, and its dialect at the same time underwent a total change. Choruses were sung in the Doric dialect in the midst of the Attic drama; so peculiarly did the choral dances seem to belong to the Dorians.[1715]

These facts afford two criterions for ascertaining the character of the lyric poetry of the Dorians. In the first place, it always bore the stamp of publicity; as in the formation of choruses the public was in some manner taken into consideration: secondly, it had some religious reference; as choruses ever formed part of religious worship. The feeling therefore expressed by this kind of lyric poetry, though it might more powerfully affect individuals, should nevertheless be of such a nature as to interest a whole people; and the subject, even if suggested by other circumstances, should have a reference to religious notions, and admit of a mythological treatment.

10. Thus much concerning the character of lyric poetry among the Dorians. But if we proceed to inquire what gave to this species of poetry the characteristic mark of the people, the circumstances which first strike the attention will rather surprise than enlighten us. For, in the first place, it is plain that no Greek city was wholly without choral poetry; and that prosodia, pæans, and dithyrambs, as soon as they obtained a separate existence, spread in a short time over the whole of Greece. Secondly, among the chief founders and masters of the Dorian lyric poetry, the smaller number only were Dorians, the others being either of Æolian or Ionian descent. Thus Terpander, the ancient pæan-singer, Arion, the inventor of the dithyramb, and Pindar, were Æolians; Ibycus of Rhegium, Bacchylides, and Simonides of Ceos, were Ionians; and of the more celebrated poets the only Dorians were Stesichorus of Himera, and Alcman, [pg 376] by birth a Laconian, though descended from a Lydian family. This last fact however may be reconciled with the view taken above, by the supposition that a certain national style had from an early period been established in the native country of this choral poetry, to which the poets of the several cities generally conformed; while in other places, being more thrown on their own resources, they were led to cultivate their talent with greater freedom. Thus the choral poetry flourished in no part of Greece so much as at Sparta,[1716] as is proved by the best authorities, viz. Terpander[1717] and Pindar.[1718] But besides the foreign, though almost naturalized poets, such as Terpander, Thaletas, Nymphæeus of Cydonia,[1719] and Simonides,[1720] there were also more native lyric poets at Sparta than in any other place;[1721] of whom we know by name, Spendon,[1722] Dionysodotus,[1723] Xenodamus,[1724] and Gitiadas, who sung the praises of the same deity to whom he built the brazen house.[1725] Notwithstanding which, there has not been preserved a single fragment of Spartan lyric poetry, with the exception of Alcman's; because, as [pg 377] we showed above, there was a certain uniformity and monotony in their productions, such as is perceivable in the early works of art, which prevented any single part from being prominent or distinguished. Something must also be attributed to the effects of a censorship, either of manners or of literary works; as the Spartans are said to have banished Archilochus from their city either on account of his cowardice, or of the licentiousness of his poems;[1726] while, on the other hand, Tyrtæus was held in the greatest honour, as animating and encouraging their youth.[1727] The generality of the use of the lyre at Sparta is proved by the fondness of the female sex for it.[1728] And besides several instances of lyric poetesses at Sparta,[1729] we know the names of some at Argos[1730] and Phlius.[1731] At the Isthmus of Corinth women were even allowed to strive in the musical contests.[1732] Of the number of lyric poets known only to their own age and country, we may form some notion from the circumstance that Pindar, celebrating a native of Ægina, incidentally mentions two minstrels of the same family, Timocritus and Euphanes the Theandridæ.[1733] Besides those already named, the following Doric poets are known to [pg 378] us: Lasus of Hermione, a poet and musician, who had improved the dithyramb after Arion, and the Æolian style of music before Pindar; Ariphron of Sicyon, a composer of pæans; Cleobulus of Rhodes, who was both a philosopher and a lyric poet; and the peculiar genius of Timocreon, who tuned the Doric lyre against Simonides and Themistocles, having been roused against the latter by the unjust conduct of Athens towards the islands.[1734] Later poets we shall pass over.

11. The above statements merely go to establish the fact, that the choral lyric poetry, chiefly and originally belonged to the Dorians. In what manner this fact is to be accounted for, what were the causes of this phenomenon, can only be explained in a general history of the lyric poetry of the Greeks, a subject at once the most attractive and most difficult which remains for the industry of the present age. In the absence of such an investigation, I may be permitted to offer on that question a few remarks, which the occasion prevents me from supporting with a detailed body of evidence.

In the first place then it will, I believe, be safe to give up the notion that the lyric was regularly and gradually developed from epic poetry. The epic poetry, beginning at a period when the Achæans were yet in possession of Peloponnesus,[1735] retaining till the latest times a peculiar dialect, and continued under [pg 379] its ancient form by Greeks of all races,[1736] does not show any tendency to produce an offspring so unlike itself; and what could be more different than the recitation of a single bard and the religious songs of a chorus? From the time that there were Greeks and a Greek language there were doubtless songs at processions, both at festivals and to the temples, as well as during the sacrifice; and these varying according to the mode of worship and attributes of the god. And in none were they so early reduced to rule as in the worship of Apollo; to which, as has been already shown,[1737] the ancient nomes, the pæans, and hyporchemes, and other varieties of lyric poetry, either in part or wholly, owed their origin. Now since this worship was originally Doric, and its chief temples were always in Doric countries, we can see a reason why in the ceremonial, that is the choral, poetry, the Doric dialect should have preponderated. Its form was, on the whole, originally a Doric variety of the epic hexameter; which was the rhythm of the ancient nomes composed by the minstrels Philammon, Olen, and Chrysothemis.[1738] Their ancient strains, which were sung and danced to, must have been very different from the delivery of the Homeric rhapsodists, a sort of chaunting recitation; for Terpander is said to have first set them, as well as the laws of Lycurgus,[1739] to a [pg 380] regular tune; whereas these ancient religious hymns had such tunes from the beginning; while the mode to which they were set can hardly have been any other than the Doric. The attempt to vary the rhythm probably began by breaking the dactylic hexameters into shorter portions, in order to produce new combinations of less uniform verses, and thus gave rise to the antistrophic form of metre.[1740] A different origin must, however, as is natural, be assigned to the anapæstic military songs; nor can we suppose that pæans and hyporchemes ever followed the laws of hexameters; the pæonian variety must have been earlier than Alcman, who made use of Cretic hexameters. Generally indeed Alcman, however early his age, made use of a great variety of metres; the reason of which probably is, that before his time Terpander had mixed the Greek and Asiatic music; besides which, Alcman had doubtless, from his Lydian origin, an inclination to the eastern style of music; for in this a large portion of his songs, in which the logaœdic metre prevailed, were evidently composed:[1741] he was also acquainted with Phrygian melodies.[1742] But the diversity of his metres was only to express the variety of his muse, which sometimes adored the gods in [pg 381] solemn choruses (in which, when he danced himself, he implored the sweetly-singing virgins to be the supports of his age[1743]), now wrote bridal-hymns and drinking-songs; a sufficient refutation of the notion that life at Sparta was one unvaried scene of gloominess and melancholy; in which town these songs continued nevertheless to be popular until the time of Epaminondas.[1744]

12. If the essence of art consists in investing an idea of the mind with a sensible and bodily form, and this in a corresponding and satisfactory manner, we must certainly ascribe great skill in art to the Dorians, for (as we have before remarked) they delighted more in imitation than in creation or action. This remark applies to the Greeks in general, and particularly to the Dorians, as distinguished from later times; hence the attention of that race to the beauty of form; “Give us what is good and what is beautiful” was the Spartan prayer.[1745] Whoever had enjoyed [pg 382] the benefits of the public education, participated in all that was beautiful in the city,[1746] their whole existence was influenced by a sense of beauty, which was expressed in the most ancient production of the people—in their religion.

We may here be permitted to annex a few remarks on the art of sculpture; and we will curtail them the more, as it does not bear so much upon national manners as music, which formed a part of the education of the people, while the former art was consigned to the care of a few. Although from what we have observed elsewhere, it would be difficult to describe all in the ancient sculpture that was peculiar to the Doric nation, and that originated from them, we may still draw some conclusions from what has been already stated. There was in the Doric character a certain healthy sensibility, and a delight in the unadorned and unveiled forms of nature. That this very much favoured and assisted the progress of the above art is obvious; and that the human form was accurately studied and understood in the Doric schools of art is shown in those specimens of their works which have been preserved. The physical beauty of this race, ennobled and exposed to view by gymnastic[1747] and warlike exercises, gave a right direction to the study of sculpture; and the prevailing religion, the worship of Apollo, by the energy of the figure and variety of the attributes of that god, shows not only the original talent of this people for sculpture, but it was fitted to lead them by a succession of compositions to the highest excellence. On the other hand, we may infer from some of the [pg 383] above remarks, that the Dorians considered the beauty of art to consist more in proportion, harmony, and regularity, than in a superabundance of glitter and ornament; and this is exemplified by the character of Doric architecture. Lastly, hence arises the composure and evenness of mind which so greatly distinguished the Dorians, who anxiously preserved the usages of their fathers as much in the art of sculpture as in music.

Although historical tradition does not extend so far as to prove and verify this view of the subject, still it agrees with all that is characteristic of the Dorians. In the first place then, we know that sculpture was diligently cultivated at an early time in several Doric cities; first perhaps in Crete, the most ancient abode of Doric civilisation;[1748] then in Ægina,[1749] Sicyon, Corinth, Argos,[1750] and Sparta; for that the latter city, particularly at the time of the Persian war, was distinguished by its active pursuit of the arts, has been sufficiently proved in a former part of this work.[1751] Sicyon produced the Apollo of Canachus, of which we have elsewhere endeavoured to give an idea;[1752] and about the same time the Æginetan artists appear to have produced those groups of heroes, the fragments of which are the only sure records which we possess of the peculiarities of that school. For the information which we receive from Pausanias and others goes no further than that in Ægina many statues of the most ancient kind were sculptured, and that a certain hardness of style was preserved there longer than in [pg 384] Attica. The fragments, however, which remain, attest a liveliness of conception, and a truth of imitation, which in many points may be called perfect, and which excite our admiration, and even astonishment. On the other hand, we may remark in the countenances of the heroes, who evidently bear a Greek national physiognomy, though rudely and unpleasingly conceived, that respect for ancient customs which was a fundamental principle of the early times. That this happened at a time when Athens had already cast off every shackle, is a strong characteristic trait of the Dorians. These works, however, possess many other singularities, which cannot be referred to any peculiar disposition of that race.