4. Drama.— As its name implies, drama is distinguished from epic by action, and grew out of the cult of Dionysus, which was deeply tinged with religion. The people of one section would gather together and worship Dionysus,.the god of wine, at vintage titne. When in tune, the chorus leader impersonating Dionysus told of some adventure, the chorus would burst into song suited to the feelings aroused by the story, which might be sad and dirge-like or joyous and hilarious. Later this story of adventure and the chorus singing developed into a dia logue, and when such dialogue was repeated several times during a festival and then ex tended to other myths, drama was begun. In time coshunes were improved and masks were added; from the simple dialogue noted above, dialogue was now carried on between the chorus leader and one member of the chorus instead of the entire chorus, so that the number of actors was increased to two and later to three. The chorus was at the same time reduced to 12 or 15 (in comedy to 24), and thus became less prominent. When the drama developed, special actors were demanded and these were paid by the state. There was no theatre at first, though soon seats of wood were erected, and later of stone, cut out of the rock on the slope of a hill, with a capacity of 20,000 people; there was no covering. At the front of the seats was the orchestra or circular dandng place, in which was an altar, about which the chorus performed its evolutions. At the rear of the altar was a wall for the scenery and behind this was some rude machinery, such as the noted eccyclema, a sort of rolling plattorm; there was likely no stage. Dramatic representation was under the care of the state and consisted of a contest among three poets, each of whom con tended with three pieces and a satyric drama. The drama was divided into tragedy and com edy, which grew up side by side, though tragedy was first to attain artistic form.
(a) Tragedy.— Passing by Thespis, Phryni cus and others who were helping to develop tragedy, we come to the masters, 1Eschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, in whose hands tragedy reached its greatest height .7Eschylus (525-456 Lc.) was a stern, proud, deeply religious man, with a vigorous imagination, and gifted with the power of seeing the grand and terrible in nature. His plays show vigor and subtlety of thought rather than grace and delicacy. He is believed to have composed about 70 dramas and 20 satyr dramas, of which only seven have come down to us, the best being the 'Agamemnon' and the 'Prometheus Bound.) Sophocles (495 406 Lc.), the greatest of the three tragic wnters, was a man of charming personality, endowed with brilliant poetic talent; his imagination was haply not so vigorous as iEschylus's, but more spontaneous and versatile, and he had a very keen insight into and appreciation of human nature. His plays exhibit deep reflection and serious thought combined with the most ex quisite grace and perfection of form. Of about 120 plays only seven are extant, of which the best are the 'Antigone,' 'Electra) and (CEdipus Tyrannus,) the last being perhaps the greatest tragedy ever written. Eunpides (480-406 Lc.),
though a great poet, did not maintain the lofty standard set by iEschylus and Sophocles. He was a man of keen sensibility, with a highly impressionable and sympathetic nature, a glow ing itnagination, but thoroughly impregnated with the sophistry of his time. His plays have much grace and beauty, but lack the power of .Eschylus and the perfection of Sophocles. There are often passages of brilliant effect, and he rises to his greatest height in the por trayal of the innermost feelings of the heart. He was not so popular in his lifetime as he became later, and so of his 75 or 90 plays, only 18 are preserved, exclusive of the 'Rhesus,' which is certainly spurious. The best plays are perhaps the 'Medea,' the 'Iphigeneia at AuHs' and the 'Ion.' (b) Comedy.— From comus, which was a rusuc procession bearing an emblem of fecund ity and singing phallic chants at the country Dionysiac festivals, with which comedy was closely associated. When comedy became im portant it was taken under the care of the authorities at Athens and the competitions were held especially at the Lenza, about the end of winter. Comedy is usually divided into the °Old,° °Middle° and °New? Old comedy, which held sway from about 480 to 400 B.C, usually dealt with some political or moral sub ject, and was characterized by the wildest ex travagance of fancy and indulgence of keen personal satire accompanied with brilliant and too often coarse wit. Like tragedy, it had a structure of its own which varied little in the different plays. The Parabasis, consisting of songs and spoken passages, is a relic of the old comus and was used to present the personal views of the poet. The language is the spoken Attic in its highest purity. The chief repre sentatives of the old comedy are Cratinus, Crates, Pherecrates, Aristophanes, Eupolis, of whom Aristophanes (450 B.c.) is far the great est. Eleven of his plays are extant showing the characteristics of old comedy, couched in ele gant language and with the most exquisite grace. Middle comedy (400-330 a.c.), which arose at the end of the Peloponnesian War, loses the vivacity and extravagance of the old and has to do with character sketches and everyday life rather than with political satire. Its chief representatives were Antiphanes (425 ?) and Alexis (390 B.c.). New comedy lost the chorus, and giving up the artificiality of the former period, came nearer to real life, taking its subjects from. everyday experience, of which love is the enduring type. This is the prototype of the Latin comedians, Plautus and Terence, and was cultivated by Diphilus, Apollodorus, Philemon, Menander, Posidippus and others, of whom Menander (324 s.c.) was the greatest. No plays of these writers are extant, but the fragments abundantly testify to the loss we have sustained. Earlier than Attic comedy is Sicilian, which was cultivated chiefly by Epi charmus and Sophron.