distinguished by no discovery; they only form in the history of the art a fucceffion of names which it would be useless to recal to light *. The neceffity and power of theatrical interest was already known. The hymns in honour of Bacchus, while they defcribed his rapid progrefs and fplendid conquefts, became imitative; and in the contefts of the Pyhian games, the players on the flute who entered into competition, were enjoined by an exprefs law to represent fucceffively the circumstances that had preceded, accompanied, and followed the victory of Apollo over Python m. Some years after this regulation ", Sufarion and Thefpis, both born in a small borough of Attica, named Icaria o, appeared each at the head of a company of actors, the one on a kind of stage, the other in a cart*. The former attacked the vices and abfurdities of his time; and the latter treated more noble subjects, which he took from history. The comedies of Sufarion were in the fame taste with those indecent and fatirical farces which are ftill performed in fome of the cities of Greece P. They were long the favourite entertainment of the country people ". Athens did not adopt this species of exhibition until after it was brought to perfection in Sicily'. Thefpis had more than once feen in the festivals, in which as yet hymns only were fung, one of the fingers, mounted on a table, form a kind of dialogue with the chorus. From this hint he conceived the idea of introducing into his trage Mem. d l'Acad. des Bell. Lettr. t. xv. p. 260. Prid. in Marm. Oxon. p. 420. k Suid. in @isa. 1 Ariftot. Probl. cap. 19. probl. 15. t. ii. p. 764. m Strab. lib. 9. p. 421. Pausan. lib. 10. cap. 7. p. 813. Poll. lib. 4. cap. 10. 84. Prid. in Marm. Oxon. p. 419. n Marm. Oxon. Epoch. 40. et 44. • Suid. in eira. Horat. de Art. Poet. v. 275. Ath. lib. 2. cap. 3. P. 40. * Sufarion represented his first pieces towards the year 580 before Christ. Some years after, Thefpis made his first attempts in tragedy, and acted his Alceftis in 536. P Ariftot. de Poet. cap. 4. t. ii. p. 655 4 Id. ibid. cap. 3. p. 654. dies an actor who, by fimple recitals, introduced at intervals, fhould give relief to the chorus, divide the action, and render it more interesting'. This happy innovation, together with fome other liberties in which he had allowed himself, gave alarm to the legislator of Athens, who was more able than any other perfon to difcern the value or danger of the novelty. Solon condemned a fpecies of compofition in which the ancient traditions were difguifed by fictions. "If we applaud "falfehood in our public exhibitions," faid he to Thefpis, we shall foon find that it will infinuate itself into our most "facred engagements "." The exceffive approbation and delight with which both the city and country received the pieces of Thespis and Sufarion, at once juftified and rendered useless the fufpicious forefight of Solon. The poets, who till then had only exercised their genius in dithyrambics and licentious fatire, ftruck with the elegant forms which thefe fpecies of compofition began to affume, dedicated their talents to tragedy and comedy*. Soon after a greater variety was introduced in the subjects of the former of these poems. Those who judge of their pleasures only from habit, exclaimed, that these subjects were foreign to the worship of Bacchus ; but the greater number thronged with still more eagerness after the new pieces. Phrynichus, the difciple of Thefpis, made choice of that kind of verfe which is most suitable to the drama, was the author of fome other changes, and left tragedy in its infancy. Æfchylus received it from his hands enveloped in a rude vestment, its vifage covered with falfe colours, or a mask inexpreffive of character 2, without either grace or dignity in his motiors, inspiring the defire of an intereft which it with difficulty excited, ftill attached to the buffooneries which had Diog. Laert. lib. 3. § 56: Laert. lib. I. § 59. Diog. * Arif. de Poet. cap. 4. t. ii. p. 655. y Plut. Sympof. lib. 1. t. ii. p. 615. z Suid. in guv. 3 Id. in Θίσπ. amufed its infant years, and expreffing its conceptions sometimes with elegance and dignity, but frequently in a feeble and low style, polluted with grofs obscenities. The father of tragedy, for fo this great man may be called ̊, had received from nature a strong and ardent mind. His filence and gravity announced the austerity of his character. He had fignalized his courage in the battles of Marathon, Salamis, and Platea, in which fo many Athenians diftinguished themselves by their valour. From his earliest years he had been attentive to the leffons of thofe poets who, living near to the heroic times, conceived ideas as fublime as the illuftrious deeds which were then achieved. The hiftory of those remote ages presented to his lively imagination fignal fucceffes and reverses of fortune, thrones drenched with blood, impetuous and devouring paffions, fublime virtues, atrocious crimes, and dreadful acts of vengeance; every where he beheld the imprefs of grandeur, and frequently that of ferocity. The better to enfure the effect of these fcenes, it was neceffary to detach them from the whole in which they were included by the ancient poets; and this had been already done by the authors of the dithyrambics and the carlieft tragedies; but they had neglected to bring them near to us. As we are infinitely more affected by those woes to which we are witneffes, than by thofe of which we only hear the recitals; Lchylus employed all the refources of theatrical representation to bring the time and place of the scene before the eyes of the fpectator. The illufion then became a reality. In his first tragedies he introduced a fecond actor ; and afterward, copying the example of Sophocles, who had just entered on his theatrical career, he admitted a third, and fome i Id. de Poet. cap. 4. t. ii. p. 655 Diog. Laert. lib. 3. § 56. i fchyl. in Choeph. v. 655. &c. v. 900, &c. Id. in Eumenid. Dacier, Rem. fur la Poet. d'Ariftot. p. 50. times even a fourth *. By this multiplicity of perfonages, one of his actors became the hero of the piece, and attracted to himself the principal intereft; and as the chorus now held only a fubaltern ftation, Æfchylus took care to fhorten its part, and perhaps even carried this precaution too far '. He is cenfured for having admitted mute characters into his drama. Achilles, after the death of his friend, and Niobe, after the deftruction of her children, appear on the ftage, and remain, during feveral fcenes, motionlefs, with their heads covered with a veil, and without uttering a word; but if their eyes had overflown with tears, and they had poured forth the bittereft lamentations, could they have produced an effect fo terrible as this veil, this filence, and this abandonment to grief? In fome of his pieces the expofition of his fubject has too much extent", and in others is deficient in perfpicuity o. Though he frequently offends against the rules that have been fince established, he appears to have had a glimpse of almost all of them. We may fay of Afchylus what he has himself faid of his hero Hippomedon: Before him ftrides Gigantic Terror, tow'ring to the fkies P. He inceffantly inspires a profound and falutary terror; for he only overwhelms the mind with violent fhocks, to raise it again immediately by the idea which he gives us of its strength. His heroes prefer being crushed by the thunderbolt to committing an act of bafenefs, and their courage is more inflexible than the fatal law of neceffity. He nevertheless knew to fet bounds to these emotions which he laboured fo earnestly to k Poll. lib. 4. cap. 15. § 110. 1 Ariftoph. in Ran. v. 945. Ariftot. de Poet. cap. 4. m Ariftoph. in Ran. v. 942. Schol. ibid. Spanh. ibid. p. 311. excite, and constantly avoided polluting the stage with blood; for he wished to produce fcenes that should be terrible but not horrible. He rarely causes tears to flow, or excites pity, either because nature had refused him that gentle fenfibility which pants to communicate itself to others; or rather, perhaps, because he feared to render his auditors effeminate. He has never exhibited on the stage a Phædra or a Sthenobœ, nor ever painted the delicious joys or wild furies of love. He beheld in the different transports of that paffion, only weakness or guilt, of pernicious tendency to morals, and he wished that nothing might diminish our efteem for those whofe fate we are compelled to lament. Let us continue to follow the immenfe ftrides he has made in the dramatic career, and examine the manner in which he has acquitted himself in the different parts of tragedy, that is to fay in the fable, manners, fentiments, diction, decoration, and mufic'. His plots are extremely fimple: he difregarded or was not fufficiently acquainted with the art of avoiding improbabilities", complicating and developing an action, closely connecting its different parts, and hastening or retarding it by difcoveries, and other unforeseen accidents *. He fometimes only interefts us by the recital of facts, and the vivacity of the dialogue ; and at other times by the vigour of his style, and the terror of his fcenes 2. He appears to have confidered the unity of action and of time as effential, but that of place as lefs neceffary. The chorus with him is no longer confined to chanting certain odes or fongs, but makes a part of the whole. It is the comforter of the wretched, the counsellor of Y |