The sacred dance

by W. O. E. Oesterley

VI

In turning now to the sacred dance among the Romans we find that there is not nearly the amount of material from which to gather information that there is among the Greeks. Cicero said: “No man who is in a sober state and not demented would dance either privately or in decent company[110].” If, as we may suppose was the case, this reflected the general opinion, one can well understand why it was that dancing never played such a part in the national life of the Romans as it did in that of the Greeks. Cicero, however, as is clear from the context of this quotation, was referring to dancing as a pastime, which respectable Romans regarded as inconsistent with their dignity. The dance in worship was a different matter. Nevertheless, even in this domain it did not play the part, nor anything like it, that it did among the Greeks. And what there was of it was, in the main, due to Greek influence[111]. Not altogether, however; and the influence of oriental cults must not be overlooked. Reinach, in speaking of the effect that eastern religions produced upon that of Rome, pointedly contrasts the hypocrisy of the sceptical priests in Italy (“deux aruspices, disait Coton, ne peuvent se regarder sans rire”) with the earnestness and sincerity of the oriental priest:

Quelle différence avec le prêtre oriental qui va droit au fidèle, l’appelle son frère et le traite en conséquence, éveille et nourrit les élans de sa dévotion, lui enseigne l’exstase, l’espérance d’un monde meilleur....

Then he refers to the alien influences on the religion of Rome:

Juvénal se plaint que l’Oronte de Syrie se soit déversé dans le Tibre; il aurait pu en dire autant du Nil, du Jourdain, et de l’Halys... L’Empire romain se remplit des adorateurs d’Attis, d’Isis, d’Osiris, de Sérapis, de Sabazios, de Zeus Dolichenos, de Mithra. Les pratiques les plus étranges, empreinte d’un sombre mysticisme, remplacèrent les froides et sévères coutumes romaines[112].

But while giving due weight to the effect of these oriental influences, the fact remains that it is chiefly to Greece that Rome owed the entry of new cults. Within the small domain with which we are specially concerned we have already considered the example of the “Game of Troy,” where it was evident that this was borrowed from Greece. Another example which may be cited is the ritual which accompanied the processions of supplication; a solemn dance-step was characteristic of these; such, for instance, was that which went from the temple of Apollo before the Porta Carmentalis to that of Juno Regina on the Aventine; to her an offering of two white cows was made by the Decemviri. These latter formed the centre of the procession, and in front of them were twenty-seven virgins who had to sing in honour of Juno. The singing took place during a halt in the forum; here the maidens sang their song while dancing with a measured, stately tread. As Wissowa says, the entire ritual was Greek from beginning to end[113]. It is probable that the dancing priests who belonged to the early Roman cultus[114] witness also to Greek influence.

An interesting case of what may well have been an indirect importation from Greece, and which records one of the earliest instances of the sacred dance among the Romans, is mentioned by Frazer:

“In the fourth century before our era,” he writes, “the city of Rome was desolated by a great plague which raged for three years, carrying off some of the highest dignitaries and a great multitude of common folk. The historian who records the calamity informs us that when a banquet had been offered to the gods in vain, and neither human counsels nor divine help availed to mitigate the violence of the disease, it was resolved for the first time in Roman history to institute dramatical performances as an appropriate means of appeasing the wrath of the celestial powders. Accordingly, actors were fetched from Etruria, who danced certain simple and decorous dances to the music of a flute. But even this novel spectacle failed to amuse or touch, to move to tears or laughter, the sullen gods[115]....”

The means which were subsequently found to be effective do not concern us here; the point is that the sacred dance was imported from Etruria, and it is well known that the Etruscans were largely indebted to Greece for their religious ideas and ritual.

It will be unnecessary to offer further illustrations of this type of religious dance among the Romans since it was mainly derived from Greece, and we have already devoted a section to the rite among the Greeks. It only remains to be said that there is a marked difference in the mode of performing the sacred dance between the two peoples. Due largely to national temperament, but also to earlier oriental influences, the Greeks in their sacred dances gave freer vent to natural impulse, a characteristic which was especially pronounced in the ecstatic dance, with which we deal below ([pp. 119 ff.]). The Romans, on the other hand, were far more restrained and dignified in their performance of them. Nevertheless, among both peoples the sacred dance was a necessary adjunct to worship, and that is the point with which we are specially concerned.