of study, grossness and buffoonery were banished, as well as licentious personalities, and comedy continued to improve until it attained its highest degree of excellence under Menander, who flourished about 300 years before Christ, and by his chaste elegance, refined wit, and admirable judgment, received the appellation of prince of the new comedy. In order that the reader may form some idea of the manner in which these pieces were represented, it must be recollected that the Grecian theatres, although not altogether dissimilar in form from a modern circus, were of much larger dimensions, and without any roof. During the performance no person was allowed to occupy that portion of the building correspondent to our pit, experience having shown that the voices of the actors could not be distinctly heard unless this space were entirely empty. The proscenium or stage was divided into two parts or terraces; the higher one being appropriated to the actors, and the lower one, which was ten or twelve feet above the pit, to the chorus, who could thus easily turn either towards the performers or the audience. At a later period the Roman theatres were provided with immense awnings, which drew over the greater portion of the top, so as to exclude the sun or rain; an improvement that seems to have been unknown to the Athenians, for we are told that in case of a sudden shower the spectators were obliged to take refuge in the adjacent porticoes and public buildings. Gratuitous representations always formed a part of the festivals; and it was during the celebration of the great Dionysia, which lasted several days, that the pieces intended for competition were brought forward. In these contests the victory was not easily achieved. Exclusively of one of the entertainments called Satyrs, an author opposed his antagonist with three tragedies, which may in some degree account for the great number written by the more eminent tragedians. The duration of these pieces was, however, limited by the clepsydra, or water-clock. Sophocles was the first who The customary croak and cry audience to unmask, nor were they, like other actors, deprived of their civil rights. Between the acts were generally introduced interludes of tumbling, rope-dancing, and pantomimical representations, which, as the public taste declined, eventually superseded the regular drama. It is recorded that the emperor Galba possessed an elephant which walked upon a rope stretched across the theatre; and there is reason to suppose that similar exhibitions formed part of the amusements. A singular custom prevailed upon the Roman stage, the occasional division of the same part between two actors, the one reciting while the other accompanied him with appropriate gestures. It is conjectured to have originated from the necessity of sparing some particular performer, rendered hoarse by reiterated repetitions of favourite passages; but it does not appear that this anomalous practice was ever extended to dialogue, The sock or low-heeled shoe of the comedians merely covered the foot; the high buskin of the tragedians reached to the mid-leg; whence these words were used to denote the different styles of comedy and tragedy. Pantomime actors usually performed barefooted, though on some occasions they wore wooden sandals. Professed dancers used castanets, playing them in unison with the music, as still practised in many parts of the continent. It appears that the chief female dancers were Spaniards of the province of Andalusia, and that their mode of exhibition was then as remarkable as now for its voluptuousness. Hence it has been conjectured that the same fandango and bolero which charms the present audiences of Madrid once delighted the inhabitants of ancient Rome. CHAPTER V. Public Games of the Grecians. "Digredimur, lentaque fori pugnamus arena." Juv. 16. 47. THERE seems to have been something nationally characteristic in the ancient notations of time. The devout Jews, referring all things to the Deity, reckoned from the creation of the world; the Egyptians, Persians, and other enslaved nations counted by dynasties and the succession of kings; the patriotic Romans commenced their chronology with the foundation of their city and the consular government; the ancient Argives reckoned by the succession of the priestesses of Juno, their patron goddess; but the Greeks, in general a vivacious, pleasure-loving people, began at a very early period to mark their time either by the recurrence of their local festivals, or by the periodical returns of the great national jubilee, when the Olympic games were celebrated, held after the completion of every fourth year. These games, which in the midst of war were not only signals for a general truce, but for a fraternal commingling of the fiercest enemies in the common enjoyment of sports, pastimes, and festivity, must have had a most healing and humanizing effect upon the whole Grecian people; while they enlivened their chronology with pleasant remembrance of the past, and joyous anticipations of the future. They who reflect how deeply the love of pleasure, more especially of public spectacles, was implanted in the mind of the Greeks, and how much more vivid is the hope of future than even the possession of present enjoyment, will duly appreciate the great political wisdom of instituting these national festivals, and will not lightly estimate the degree of happiness which the anticipation of their recurrence was capable of diffusing throughout the whole of Greece. Exclusively of the local festivals, some of which we have already briefly noticed, there were public games in different parts of Greece, which, being open to the participation of every inhabitant of the country, might be strictly termed national. Of these the most celebrated were the Olympic, the Pythian, the Nemean, and the Isthmian; the first dedicated to Jupiter, the second to Apollo, the third to Archemorus originally, though renewed in honour of Hercules after the destruction of the Nemean lion; the fourth, which took their name from the Isthmus of Corinth, where they were celebrated, were consecrated to Neptune. These were the four great solemn public festivals of the Greeks, which, by instilling into them at a rude and barbarous era a disinterested love of fame, for the noblest reward was a simple laurel wreath, by inspiring them with a love of the arts, and by imbuing them with the spirit of social life, contributed not less to their aggrandizement over other nations, than to the advancement of civilization among themselves. According to some writers, the Pythian games, celebrated near the temple of Delphi, were instituted by Apollo himself in commemoration of his victory over the serpent Python; though others maintain that they were first established by the council of the Amphictyons 1263 years before Christ. They were originally held once in nine years, but afterward every fifth year, consisting in their earlier course of a simple musical contention, wherein he who best sang the praises of Apollo obtained the prize, which was a garland of the palm-tree, or of beech-leaves. Hesiod, it is said, was refused admission to these games from his inability to play upon the harp, which was required of all such as entered the lists. The songs called the Pythian modes were divided into five parts, containing a representation of the victory of Apollo over Python in the following order-the preparation for the fight; the first attempt; taking breath and collecting courage; the insulting sarcasms of the god over his vanquished enemy; an imitation of the hisses of the serpent just as he expired under the blows of Apollo. Appropriate dances were introduced, which, combining with vocal and instrumental music in the representation of a story, would bear no very remote resemblance to a modern opera; and suggested doubtless to Thespis, as has been already intimated, the first hint of the drama. The Romans are thought to have introduced these games into their city under the name of Apollinares ludi. Various reasons are assigned for the first institution of the Nemean games, though most writers concur in ascribing their renewal and enlargement to Hercules, after his destruction of the Nemean lion. The Argives, Corinthians, and the inhabitants of Cleone generally presided by turns at their celebration, which occurred every fifth, or, according to some authorities, every third year, and consisted of foot, chariot, and horse-races, boxing, wrestling, and gymnastic contests of every kind, to which were subsequently added singing and music. The conqueror was rewarded with a crown of olive until the time of the war against the Medes, when a check experienced by the Greeks occasioned them to substitute parsley, which was a funeral plant. The celebration of these games served as an epoch to the Argives, and to the inhabitants of that part of Arcadia which bordered upon the Nemean forest. The Isthmian games, instituted 1350 years before Christ, were exnibited near a fine wood that shaded a magnificent temple of Neptune, in the vicinity of Corinth. Being originally celebrated at night, they rather resembled nocturnal mysteries than public spectacles. After having been sus pended for some time on account of the great number of robberies and murders committed during their performance, they were restored by Theseus, eleventh king of Athens, after he had cleared the country of the banditti who infested it. On their re-establishment they were exhibited during the day, and solemnly consecrated to Neptune, Theseus stipulating with the people of Corinth, in return for the service he had rendered them, that the Athenians should not only be entitled to the front ranks during the performances, but that there should be a space between their seats and the others, as wide as the sail of the vessel in which they should arrive from Athens; a condition which shows the great importance attached to these national spectacles, and to the possession of the most honourable places. Like the other games, they consisted originally of races, and trials of bodily strength or skill, to which were eventually added -competitions in music and poetry. The concourse of spectators was usually so great, that none but the principal inhabitants of the Grecian cities could be provided with places. But it was under the Romans that the Isthmian games attained their greatest magnificence, for besides the exhibistions we have enumerated, they introduced the hunting of wild beasts, collecting for that purpose the most uncommon animals from every quarter of the world. These games, |