As the festivals of the gods necessarily produced good cheer, which often carried to riot and debauchery, mirth of consequence prevailed; and this was always attended with buffoonery. Taunts and jokes, and raillery and repartee, would necessarily ensue; and individuals would contend for the victory in wit and genius. These contests would in time be reduced to some regulations, for the entertainment of the people thus assembled, and some prize would be decreed to him who was judged to excel his rivals. The candidates for fame and profit being thus stimulated, would task their talents, and naturally recommend these alternate recriminations to the audience, by clothing them with a kind of poetical measure, which should bear a near resemblance to prose. Thus, as the solemn service of the day was composed in the most sublime species of poetry, such as the ode or hymn, the subsequent altercation was carried on in iambics, and gave rise to satire. We are told by the Stagirite, that the highest species of poetry was employed in celebrating great actions, but the humbler sort used in this kind of contention; and that in the ages of antiquity there were some bards that professed heroics, and some that pretended to iambics only. Οἱ μὲν ἡροϊκῶν οἱ δὲ ἰάμβων ποιήται.

To these rude beginnings we not only owe the birth of satire, but likewise the origin of dramatic poetry. Tragedy herself, which afterwards attained to such dignity as to rival the epic muse, was at first no other than a trial of crambo, or iambics, between two peasants, and a goat was the prize, as Horace calls it, vile certamen ob hircum, "a mean contest for a he-goat." Hence, the name toayudia, signifying the goat-song, from Toάyos hircus, and won carmen.

* Οἱ μὲν γὰρ σεμνότεροι τάς καλάς ἐμιμοῦντο πράξεις – οἱ δὲ εὐτελέστεροι τάς τῶν φαύλων, κ. τ. λ.

"Carmine qui tragico vilem certavit ob hircum,
Mox etiam agrestes satyros nudavit, et asper
Incolumi gravitate jocum tentavit, eò quòd
Illecebris erat et gratâ novitate morandus
Spectator functusque sacris, et potus et exlex.

The tragic bard, who for a worthless prize,
Bid naked satyrs in his chorus rise;
His muse severe, secure, and undismay'd,
The rustic joke in solemn strain convey'd ;
For novelty alone, he knew, could charm

A lawless crowd, with wine and feasting warm.

Satire then was originally a clownish dialogue in loose jambics, so called because the actors were disguised like satyrs, who not only recited the praises of Bacchus, or some other deity, but interspersed their hymns with sarcastic jokes and altercation. Of this kind is the Cyclop of Euripides, in which Ulysses is the principal actor. The Romans also had their Atellanæ or interludes of the same nature, so called from the city of Atella, where they were first acted; but these were highly polished in comparison of the original entertainment, which was altogether rude and innocent. Indeed the Cyclop itself, though composed by the accomplished Euripides, abounds with such impurity as ought not to appear on the stage of any civilized nation.

It is very remarkable, that the Atellana, which were in effect tragi-comedies, grew into such esteem among the Romans, that the performers in these pieces enjoyed several privileges which were refused to the ordinary actors. They were not obliged to unmask, like the other players, when their action was disagreeable to the audience. They were admitted into the army, and enjoyed the privileges of free citizens, without incurring that disgrace which was affixed to the characters of other actors. The

* Cum artem ludicram, scenamque totam probro ducerent genus id ho

poet Laberius, who was of the equestrian order, being pressed by Julius Cæsar to act a part in his own performance, complied with great reluctance, and complained of the dishonor he had incurred, in his proverb preserved by Macrobius, which is one of the most elegant morsels of antiquity.

Tragedy and comedy flowed from the same fountain, though their streams were soon divided. The same entertainment which, under the name of tragedy, was rudely exhibited by clowns, for the prize of a goat, near some rural altar of Bacchus, assumed the appellation of comedy when it was transferred into cities, and represented with a little more decorum in a cart or wagon that strolled from street to street, as the name xopodia implies, being derived from zoun a street, and won a poem. To this origin Horace alludes in these lines:

"Dicitur et plaustris vexisse poemata Thespis,
Quæ canerent agerentque peruncti fœcibus ora.

Thespis, inventor of dramatic art,

Convey'd his vagrant actors in a cart:

High o'er the crowd the mimic tribe appear'd,

And play'd and sung, with lees of wine besmear'd."

Thespis is called the inventor of the dramatic art, because he raised the subject from clownish altercation to the character and exploits of some hero: he improved the language and versification, and relieved the chorus by the dialogue of two actors. This was the first advance towards that consummation of genius and art, which constitutes what is now called a perfect tragedy. The next great improver was Eschylus, of whom the same critic says:

minum non modo honore civium reliquorum carere, sed etiam tribu moveri notatione censoria voluerunt.-Cic. apud S. Aug. de Civit. Dei.

"Post hunc personæ pallæque repertor honesta
Eschylus, et modicis instravit pulpita tignis;
Et docuit magnumque loqui, nitique cothurno.
Then Eschylus a decent vizard us'd;
Built a low stage; the flowing robe diffus'd.
In language more sublime two actors rage,
And in the graceful buskin tread the stage.

the

The dialogue which Thespis introduced was called the episode, because it was an addition to the former subject, namely, praises of Bacchus; so that now tragedy consisted of two distinct parts, independent of each other; the old recitative, which was the chorus, sung in honor of the gods; and the episode, which turned upon the adventures of some hero. This episode being found very agreeable to the people, Eschylus, who lived about half a century after Thespis, still improved the drama, united the chorus to the episode, so as to make them both parts or members of one fable, multiplied the actors, contrived the stage, and introduced the decorations of the theatre; so that Sophocles, who succeeded Eschylus, had but one step to surmount in order to bring the drama to perfection. Thus tragedy was gradually detached from its original institution, which was entirely religious. The priests of Bacchus loudly complained of this innovation by means of the episode, which was foreign to the intention of the chorus: and hence arose the proverb of Nihil ad Dionysium, "Nothing to the purpose." Plutarch himself mentions the episode, as a perversion of tragedy from the honor of the gods to the passions of men. But, notwithstanding all opposition, the new tragedy succeeded to admiration; because it was found the most pleasing vehicle of conveying moral truths, of meliorating the heart, and extending the interests of humanity. Comedy, according to Aristotle, is the younger sister of tragedy. As the first originally turned upon the praises of the

gods, the latter dwelt on the follies and vices of mankind. Such, we mean, was the scope of that species of poetry which acquired the name of comedy, in contradiction to the tragic muse; for in the beginning they were the same. The foundation upon

which comedy was built, we have already explained to be the practice of satirical repartee or altercation, in which individuals exposed the follies and frailties of each other on public occasions of worship and festivity.

The first regular plan of comedy is said to have been the Margites of Homer, exposing the idleness and folly of a worthless character; but of this performance we have no remains. That division which is termed the ancient comedy, belongs to the labors of Eupolis, Cratinus, and Aristophanes, who were contemporaries, and flourished at Athens about four hundred and thirty years before the Christian era. Such was the license of the muse at this period, that far from lashing vice in general characters, she boldly exhibited the exact portrait of every individual who had rendered himself remarkable or notorious by his crimes, folly, or debauchery. She assumed every circumstance of his external appearance, his very attire, air, manner, and even his name; according to the observation of Horace,