444 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



as it may, however, the general implication remains the same. 

 There arose in Christendom, as in Greece, a sacred drama per- 

 formed by priests and representing incidents in the sacred story ; 

 and if our secular drama did not directly descend from this Chris- 

 tian religious drama, then it indirectly descended from the original 

 pagan religious drama. 



Along with the rise of the secular drama have arisen minor 

 differentiations. The separation between actor and dramatist, 

 though still not complete, has become greater; most dramatic 

 authors are not actors. And then the dramatic authors are now 

 distinguished into those known as producers chiefly of tragedy, 

 comedy, melodrama, farce, burlesque. 



We meet here with no exception to the general law that segre- 

 gation and consolidation are parts of the evolutionary process. 

 Beginning with Greece we trace the tendency even among the 

 poets. Curtius remarks that "poetry like the other arts was first 

 cultivated in circles limited after the fashion of guilds." And the 

 religious character of these guilds is shown by the further state- 

 ment that " schools of poets came to form themselves which were 

 . . . intimately connected with the sanctuary." 



Naturally the process readily took place with those occupied in 

 combined representations ; for they, as a matter of necessity, ex- 

 isted as companies. But there early arose more definite unions 

 among them. Mahaffy says, concerning the Greeks, that 



" Inscriptions reveal to us the existence of guilds of professionals who 

 went about Greece to these local feasts, and performed for very high pay." 

 And he further states that 



The actors' " corporation included a priest (of Dionysus) at the head, who 

 still remained a performer ; a treasurer ; dramatic poets of new tragedies 

 and comedies and odes ; principal actors of both tragedy and comedy . . . 

 and musicians of various kinds.'' 



From Rome, for reasons already indicated, we do not get much 

 evidence. Still there is some. 



The authorities . . . out of regard for the Greek Andronikos " conceded 

 to the guild of poets and actors a place for their common worship in the 

 temple of Minerva." 



Nor do modern days fail to furnish a few, though not many, illus- 

 trations of the integrating tendency. A slight organization is 

 given by the Actors' Benevolent Fund. The dramatic writers 

 have an agency for collecting the amounts due to them for the 

 performance of their pieces, and are to that extent combined. 

 And then we have a special newspaper, The Era, which forms a 

 medium for communication, by advertisements, between all kinds 

 of stage-performers and those who wish to engage them, as well 

 as an organ for representing the interests of the stage and the 

 semi-dramatic music-hall. 



