THE LITERARY 



OF THE LINNiEAN ASSOCIATION OP PENNSYLVANIA COLLEGE. 



Vol. II r. MARCri, 1847. No. 5. 



THE AGE OP PERICLES. iVO. II. 



One of the chief sources of amusement and instruction, in the age 

 to which we refer, was the Drama. This art Iiad passed from the 

 rude form in which it first appeared under the guidance of Thespis. It 

 liad ceased to be a movable stage, with a single actor to recite things lu- 

 dicrous and grave, accompanied by a cliorus of buffoons. iEschylus 

 had introduced the dialogue and a fixed stage, and had thrown around 

 this art the vigor and hue of his own lofty genius. Rough, bold, un- 

 polished, yet sublime, he may be said to have given character and fixed- 

 ness to the stage, which before was without a name and place. To 

 him succeeded Sophocles, the most perfect in the form and sentiment, 

 and Euripides, the most pathetic and tragical. Now there were intro- 

 duced upon the stage three personages, the chorus of spectators, and 

 scenery and other accompaniments, such as to furnish the most lively 

 gratification to the intellectual powers and the senses. 



The tragedies, enacted before all the people, at which they were not 

 only privileged to attend, but had the means furnished them by the in- 

 strumentality of Pericles, were generally confined to the events which 

 occurred to a few distinguished families of the heroic age. Here were 

 exhibited the loftiest sentiments of i)atriotism, sound morals, and piety 

 towards the gods. The misfortunes of life, by being renewed before them, 

 in the personages of some of their most distinguished heroes, made 

 them submissive, and awakened within them the emotions of pity and 

 fear. But we do not intend to discuss the character or merits of the 

 Drama in the abstract, but rather to present it as it appeared at Athens 

 in the age of Pericles. It had attained its highest pitch of grandeur 

 and excellency both in its form and exhibition. It is vain to place be- 

 side the master-pieces of this age the most perfect model of modern 

 times. The splendor of the Theatre in its architectural structure, the 

 13 



